The inheritor of the Rikudou Sennin's will
by lord Sirius Peverell
Summary: A chance meeting with a wind user will send naruto on a path that nobody could have predicted. His parentage surrounded in mystery. Will he ever discover who they(parents) are? Will he find out the evil of their scheming. Au. Alive/minato. Alive/kushina. Competent/naruto. kekkei genkai naruto
1. Chapter 1

**The inheritor of the Rikudou Sennin** **'s will**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any associated characters, not even Oc** **'s.**

 **Chapter 1: A meeting of wind and fire**

* * *

A young spiky red head walked down the streets of Konohagakure no Sato. The young boy had the blue innocent eyes that could qualify as an instant Genjutsu. In fact on those that he used them on, called it Genjutsu:Koinu no me (Puppy dog eyes Jutsu.) He wore a white shirt with a stylised leaf and spiral in the had black pants that stopped above the knee and blue shinobi sandals.

He received sneers from those that he passed along the street, he ignored this for the most part, it did get to him on a deeper level, however he remembered one of the children at a park that he frequented, crying to her mother about bullies, and her mother told her not to show a reaction and they would stop. The advice was sound, it just didn't always work.

He continued his journey through Konoha until he saw a strong man, he was in slight awe of the man's presence. He had spiky blonde hair with two bangs framing his face. He had piercing blue eyes that held love, ruthlessness, determination and passion. He wore the best outfit he had ever seen. A knee length short-sleeved haori, a jonin flak jacket and blue under shirt and pants. His shinobi sandals matched the colour scheme. Naruto watched as the cloak fluttered in the wind and he was able to see red flame motifs on the hem of the haori.

 _This must be Yondaime-sama! He is so cool! I want to be like him when I'm older! Sugoi._ Naruto thought gleefully.

The young boy turned his attention to the the man that was standing opposite of the Yondaime Hokage. He couldn't discern much from his appearance apart from the rhombus shaped hat with the word "Kaze" printed on it. That section of hat was white while the rest was blue. He could partially see the eyes, and he noticed that he had some sort of eye shadow, or he didn't get a lot of sleep. _He looks like a reverse raccoon._

The rest of his outfit was the same colour scheme as the hat, except this time white was prominent. The clothing itself were elegant light weight robes. He was a little shorter than the Yondaime Hokage.

The redhead saw the Hokage hand the other man a scroll, which he handed to the a young girl next to him. She had sandy blond hair that was tied into four separate pigtails. She had beautiful teal eyes. She wore knee length purple battle kimono tied at the waist with a red sash. She also wore shinobi sandals, except hers were different from those he was used to. They had one addition that the usual Konoha sandals did not have, they had a strap bisecting her big toe and the toe next to it.

Naruto decided to move past the important officials, he did not want them to think that he was gawking or eavesdropping on them. Just as he passed them, he heard someone call.

"Young boy come here please, I'm in need of your assistance." said a warm-welcoming voice.

Naruto looked around, the only other young boy the street was him. He turned towards the voice. It was the Yondaime Hokage. He swallowed thickly as he said. "You mean me?"

"Of course. Could you come here." said the Yondaime.

Naruto walked hesitantly towards the small group. "I need you to escort Temari-chan to one of the training fields." said Minato.

Naruto's eyes widened. This was an honour, he knew that Temari must of been the daughter or relations of a high government official. Naruto turned to the two and bowed from the waist. "My name is Konoha, Konoha Naruto. It is nice to meet you Temari-san. I will be your guide today."

Minato's eyes flickered for a moment. "Naruto-kun," said Minato. "this the Kazekage and Temari-chan's tousan."

Naruto bowed deeply to the man. "It is an honour to meet you, Kazekage-sama."

The Kazekage gave him the slightest nod before turning his attention back to the Hokage. "I think its time we reconvene in your office. Hokage-dono."

"Yes. It was nice seeing you Temari-chan." said the Hokage as he and the Kazekage left to continue their business.

Naruto noticed pink dusting the girls cheeks as she kept her eyes focused the Hokage. Naruto decided to remain quiet and look the other way. _I don't want to cause any problems. Especially not with the Kazekage's daughter._

"Konoha-san? I don't want to wait all day."said Temari in a no-nonsense manner.

"H-hai!" Naruto stuttered. "Right this way please."

Naruto lead Temari through the village to the training fields. _Crap I don't even know where they are._

It had been over an hour since Naruto had started escorting Temari around the village. Even though he didn't know where the training fields were, he pointed out places of interest in the village. Although he faltered when she pointed out. "We're lost? Aren't we?"

Naruto began to sweat, however with some quick thinking he managed to turn it around. "Lost? No I know exactly where we are." Naruto said in shrugging motion. _I just don't know where the training fields are._

 _Think Naruto, where could they be?_ The young redhead thought to himself. _What do training fields need?_ He continued to lead her around the village until he noticed the trees surrounding the village. _They need space, and there will be less houses! The cool ninja cant have the awesome techniques breaking down houses! I'm such a genius!_

Naruto now confident in his assumption led Temari around the village once more. Looking for the open sections of the village. "I hope you know where we're going this time!" said Temari angrily.

"I always know where I'm going." Quipped Naruto. "I just need to find the best way to get there."

"And this was the best way to get there?" she asked challengingly.

She had him there, however he shrugged. "Sometimes the road of life is filled with twists and turns, and other times it has no turns at all, but the finish line is the same no matter what road is taken."

Temari raised her eyebrow, but chose to remain quiet.

After a few minutes they wondered into a clearing that had a stream to the side, and was surrounded by trees. He looked to the side and noticed a stone cube with "Training ground sixteen" carved in it, with the Konoha stylised leaf slightly below it.

"Its about damn time!" huffed Temari.

Naruto smiled apologetically, and she ignored him in favour of sitting down against one of the trees. She pulled out a scroll and began reading it. She spent about twenty five minutes reading it before she got up and pulled a leaf from one of the branches above her.

She set the scroll down beside her and she held the leaf in one hand while she cupped her other hand over it. She closed her eyes and an extreme demeanour of concentration overcame her features.

After an hour of sitting under the tree Temari was breathing deeply, and sweat was dripping down her brow. "Why wont this stupid leaf cut?!" she shouted in frustration.

Naruto hesitantly made his way over to Temari. "Temari-san?"

"What?" she asked snappishly.

"What are you trying to do?" he asked, gently.

"I'm trying to cut this leaf! But the stupid thing wont cut!" she raged. "I think these leaves are faulty."

"Right. . .uh." Naruto chose to ignore her. "How about we go out for lunch? And we can come back here when you're done?"

"That wont help me! And you're going to get us lost anyway." she retorted, frustration colouring her words.

"It will help Temari-san. It will give you some of your energy back. and it will help you relax, maybe when you come back the leaves. . .wont be as faulty?"

"I guess you have a point."she shrugged. "Lead the way."

And so he did, he lead her to a ramen stand with red flaps adorning the front and the name of the stall on top of the stall. "Ichiraku Ramen."

"Welcome to Ichiraku ramen, Temari-san." said Naruto. _It would of been cool if I could take her to a more expensive restaurant, she is the Kazekage's daughter. But most people in the village avoid me, and are mean to me. I don't want her to feel bad for me._

"A ramen stand? Really?" she asked with an upturn of her nose.

"I'm paying." shrugged Naruto. "If you want something expensive, then you pay."

"fine. _Ramen_ it is." sighed Temari.

Naruto had a slight upturn of his lips as he entered the ramen stand. They took a seat and they were greeted by a brown haired young girl with soft brown eyes. "Welcome to ichiraku ramen! My name is Ichiraku Ayame, May I take your orders?" she said brightly.

Naruto sighed. "Ayame-san, you're supposed to give us menus before you ask what our orders are."

"ahaha!" she laughed nervously. "My bad."

The young waiter handed them their menus, but as she handed Naruto his her grip tightened. "And I told you before, its Ayame-onee-chan."

Naruto sighed. "Yes, yes." he already knew what he wanted. "I'll have one bowl of pork ramen. . .Ayame-san."

"Its onee-chan. . ."she said. "Or no ramen."

"B-but Ayame-san that so cold. You know I can only buy here. Why would you do that to me?" Naruto eyes started watering and his eyes began to sparkle as his eyes took the form of a puppy-dog.

She immediately had a fearful expression. "I didn't mean that! I'm sorry. . ." she said, as his eyes gained more water. "You can have Ramen."

"Really? You're the best!" said Naruto, his mood taking a full one-eighty.

Ayame sighed in relief as she took Temari's order of chicken vegetable ramen. When she turned her back Naruto made a quick victory sign as he grinned widely. "Dad! One pork ramen and one chicken vegetable ramen."

"Coming right up." they heard a man shout, and Ayame disappeared into the stall, presumably to either assist or to do the dishes.

"Konoha-san?" said Temari.

"Yeah?" asked Naruto, as he turned his attention to her.

"Are you a bastard?" she asked him bluntly.

"Yes although it doesn't matter what you call me, I'm an orphan." said Naruto nonchalantly.

She winced a little at his remark. _Maybe I shouldn't of been that blunt._ She thought internally. "How old are you?" she asked.

"I'm seven, and you?" asked Naruto.

"I'm ten. You know your pretty smart for a seven year old. I wish my brother was like you." _not just Kankuro, but Gaara too._

Naruto's eyes widened in surprise. "you have a brother?"

"Two actually." she replied.

"What are they like?" Naruto asked, his eyes brimming with excitement. _I wonder what having a brother would be like._

"Well Kankuro. . .his a little odd. He plays with dolls and make-up." said Temari. _Well it's really puppetry, but Konoha-san doesn't need to know that._

"Hahaha!" Naruto chuckled. "He sounds kind of fun though. Just a bit. . .weird."

"yeah, we're pretty close." remarked Temari.

"And the other one?" asked Naruto.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" she asked in confusion.

"You said that you have two brothers."

"I'm not that close with him." she said almost guardedly. "He -"

But she was cut off by Ayame. "Lunch is served."

The two closed their eyes with their chopsticks between their palms. "Itadakimasu!"

Temari instantly went to work on her ramen. Eating fast, but with grace befitting the daughter of a kage.

Naruto on the other hand didn't even start yet. First he smelled the broth, then he checked the texture of the pork and noodles, as well as the other ingredient on the plate. His ritual was so odd that it gave Temari pause from her eating.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"I don't eat pork ramen a lot." said Naruto. "Usually Teuchi-Sama prepares a special ramen for me. It uses healthier noodles, broth and vegetables. It saves me on money a little."

"I can understand that." said Temari. "But why is it cheaper? If he makes it specially for you then you should pay more."

"Well at first it was for me. But soon healthy and dieting customers asked for it, and its now on the menu. He actually makes a lot of money from that dish, so he gave me a discount for being his inspiration." said Naruto.

She nodded absent mindedly, and returned to her broth. Naruto finished his inspection of the broth and began eating at a sedate pace, while sighing in content at the taste.

When they(Naruto) finally finished their ramen, Teuchi made an appearance. "Ho-oh Naruto-kun, I see you've brought a girlfriend." the older man laughed boisterously.

"Nothing like that Teuchi-sama." said Naruto.

"You say that now. But give it a few years." smirked Teuchi.

Naruto ignored him. "Anyway, I want my finders fee." said Naruto.

"Finders what?" asked Temari.

"A finders fee is a fee for finding things or people." Naruto deadpanned.

"I know what it is, but what is your finders fee?" asked Temari.

"He gets ten percent of the total cost of the meal as well as one percent discount per five customers." said Teuchi.

"I see." she nodded.

"Teuchi-sama, could I get two bottles of water for the road?" asked Naruto.

Teuchi got two bottles of water out of the fridge and Naruto paid for the whole meal and the water, and left the stall with Temari. "Tell me, Temari-san. How were you going to cut the leaf with your hand? And couldn't you use a scissor?"

She laughed at him. "I was trying to cut it using my chakra."

"What's chakra?" asked Naruto curiously.

"Are you going to join the academy?" she asked.

"Yes, in a few months. What does that have to do with you cutting a leaf? Or this "chakra" You're talking about?"

"You're going to learn about it there." she replied.

"Okay, but why are you using "chakra to cut a leaf?" asked Naruto.

"It's an advance chakra control exercise. Its called "Nature transformation" or at least that's what Baki-sensei says. It allows me to turn my chakra into wind chakra."

"Wind chakra?"he asked.

"Academy." was her simple reply.

"Fine. Okay, but why are you learning it here?" asked Naruto. "shouldn't you have learned at home?"

"We have a different exercise. This is a Konoha only exercise, its supposed to increase the effectiveness of "cutting" wind chakra." said Temari.

"Well I could help you." said Naruto in thought.

"You don't even know about chakra, how could you help?" she asked sceptically, as they neared the training ground.

"Just because I don't know what it is, that doesn't mean I'm stupid." said Naruto.

"I never said you were." she replied.

"Then I can help you." Naruto smirked.

"Fine. What can I lose?" she asked rhetorically.

"Okay, so you said you need to use this "Chakra" to cut a leaf?" he asked, getting a nod. "Well cant you make your chakra like a knife? Or a scissors? I use that to cut paper, and even cardboard. I don't know how chakra works, or even what it is, but from what I'm guessing its some power that cool ninja have. So that means you can control it to make lightning strikes and fireballs."

She nodded. _His explanation is rather childish. Then again he is one. Still he has an idea of it, and I didn't really tell him anything._

"Then if you can control it, then you should make it like a scissor. Two blades are better than one." he replied.

"Anything else?" she asked.

"Well it needs to be super thin. Like pointy knives, not like giant hammers." he replied after a minute of thought.

 _He means it needs to be thin and sharp. If it is too wide it could be blunt._ She thought internally. "I'll give it a try." she shrugged.

Naruto nodded happily before he took a seat under the tree beside her. She sat down after plucking a leaf from the tree. She focussed all her energy on trying to control and shape her chakra into a blade. About thirty minutes into it Naruto dozed off, she ignored that and continued focusing her chakra.

She took a break for a couple of minutes and continued, it was late afternoon when Naruto woke up to scream of glee.

"Huh? Wha-what happened?" Naruto asked bleary eyed.

"I did it! I cut the leaf!" she said excitedly.

Naruto looked at the leaf, and indeed she did. There was a small cut at the one end. "Congratulations Temari-san." he yawned. "This must be really hard if you're excited about a small cut."

She was too excited to even notice the jab. "Its a jonin level skill."

That caught his attention. "Well done, your Otousan will be proud."

Naruto got up from his spot under the tree. "I think its time for me to escort you to your hotel or whatever, its getting late. Your Otousan will be worried."

Temari nodded absently. _I don't think he will. He is as cold as Gaara._

"I'm staying at the flaming leaf." she replied.

Naruto scratched his head. "I don't know where that is."

"What?" she asked in surprise. "this is your village. How can you now know where the hotels are?"

"Meh. . .I'm seven, what do you want?" Naruto shrugged, while he picked his ear.

"I want you to get me to my hotel!" she shouted.

"Sheesh." Naruto sighed. "Calm down, I said I didn't know how to get there. Not that I cant get you there."

"What?" she said, in a stunned fashion.

"I'll take you to Saru-sama." said Naruto.

"Ugh, fine." she replied.

Naruto nodded before leading through the village once more. They soon came upon the clan area. Most of the houses were estate like buildings big enough for multiple houses and training fields. "Is this the Clan estates?" she asked.

"Hai! Saru-sama is the head of Sarutobi clan." said Naruto.

"Is Saru his real name?" she asked sceptically.

"No, but his son Sasuke-sama told me that I should call him that." shrugged Naruto.

"Wait. .you know Sasuke Sarutobi, second of his name." she asked with stars in her eyes.

"yeah? What's the big deal?" he asked in confusion.

"what's the big deal? He is the most powerful wind user in the elemental nations. He is an s-rank shinobi in the bingo book. He created the vacuum art."

"Well you can meet him when you get there. Maybe not, I don't really know if he will be there." said Naruto.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"I haven't seen Sasuke-sama for a month and a half. Usually I see him around the village. He must be on a super ninja mission." Naruto said as he came to a gate manned by two chunin guards. Each of the them had wild dark hair, and the hint of a beard.

"I'm here to see Saru-sama." said Naruto.

They chuckled as they lit a cigarette each with their fire chakra. "Go right on in kid."

Naruto nodded while pulling Temari away from the stylised monkey emblem on the wall. Naruto walked up the road leading Temari through the huge estate. The estate seemed to have various water sources. A huge river was included amongst these water sources.

 _It must be precautions for young fire release users._ Temari thought internally.

Naruto lead her up the main road before taking a few turn here and there passing young children that were playing ninja and others that were practising their Ninjutsu or Taijutsu techniques.

They passed a couple of toddlers in a small park that were playing tag. They were being watched over by two kunoichi and a male special jonin with red armbands and a black symbol of fire over the red spiral pattern on his back.

"Naruto-nii-san!" a voice screamed, getting louder near the end.

Naruto and Temari turned their attention back to the park where they noticed a young boy running towards them. He nearly tripped a couple of times on the long blue scarf that was around his neck. He wore a dark red shirt with the Konoha village emblem in black, and a pair grey shorts above the knees.

"Konohamaru-kun." Naruto smiled as he hugged the young boy.

"What are you doing here? You only come on Fridays." asked Konohamaru.

"I need your Ojii-san's help. I need to get Temari-san to a hotel, I just don't know where it is." replied Naruto.

"Oh!" said Konohamaru innocently. "is she your girlfriend?"

"No," Naruto replied calmly. "she is the Hokage-sama's guest, and Kazekage-sama's daughter, plus I'm much to young for that. And so are you Konohamaru."

"Ah, hahaha." he laughed nervously.

"Come on Konohamaru-kun, I think I should take you home." said Naruto, in a commanding manner.

"but why? do we have to?" Konohamaru whined, but he relented after Naruto gave him a harsh look."Fine." he pouted, and then he turned to the children in park and waved. "Bye guys, I'm going home now."

After Konohamaru and Naruto received a series of farewells from the children they departed. They continued walking through the estate until they came upon a two story house with two monkey statues in front. The monkeys seemed to be wearing primitive clothes, and they their fists were replaced by a ball of flames on each arm.

When they got inside Konohamaru shouted. "Oi! Ojii-chan I'm home!"

"I'm in the study Konohamaru-chan." shouted someone, they had an elders voice. "Your Ka-chan is out shopping. and bring your friends with you."

Temari's eyes widened, but Naruto was calm with a slight grin on his face. It was as if he had grown used to it, or at least expected it. "Come on guys."

They walked across the hall, and took a left. They stopped at a door with monkey motifs on it. They entered to see an elderly man wearing black shirt. He had dark brown eyes, with three distinct wrinkles branching from each eye. his right cheek had two liver spots. He had short grey hair and a receding hairline. A goatee of the same colour grew from his chin and he was also quite tanned.

"Good afternoon Saru-sama." Naruto bowed.

Saru-sama chuckled slightly, however there was the slight hint of a frown. "What can I do for you today?"

"I need your help. This is Temari-san." said Naruto who gestured to Temari, who greeted the Sarutobi clan head formally. "She is Hokage-sama's guest and the daughter of Kazekage-sama. She is staying at the burning leaf, I just don't know how to get her there, would you mind helping me? Or taking her yourself? Or maybe one of your cool fire-squad ninja could take her." said Naruto, drooling at the last part.

"I will take care of it Naruto-kun. Why don't you run along now?" asked Saru-sama.

"Right. Goodbye Temari-san it was nice meeting you. Bye Saru-sama, Konohamaru-kun." Naruto bowed.

"Naruto please come here Friday, we have something to talk about." said Sarutobi, he gained a gulp from from Naruto.

"Thank you for guiding me Konoha-san." said Temari.

"Please, call me Naruto-san." he replied and she nodded.

Naruto turned to Konohamaru and tussled his hair. "Be good." he simply said before leaving the house.

* * *

 **Kazekage's Carriage**

 **Three days later**

"Tell me Temari, how goes your wind nature transformation?" asked the robed Kage.

"At first, I only wasted my chakra, but then Konoha-san took me for lunch to help calm me down, and recover my chakra. On the way back he asked me what I was doing and I told him. He didn't know what chakra was, he hadn't even entered the academy yet. But. . .it was amazing, he is a genius." she said in explanation.

"A genius you say?" the Kazekage asked, his interest piqued.

"Yes tousama." Temari answered."He decided to help me figure out the exercise. He deduced that chakra was an energy that ninja can manipulate or control. So he suggested that I control my chakra in such a way that it cuts. It was easier said than done obviously. He listed a few ideas, he said I could change it into a knife, or a scissors. He went on to say it should be thin and pointy, not like a giant hammer. He means to say that if it were wide it would not be sharp."

"and did his suggestion work?"asked the Kazekage.

"At first I tried the knife, I felt like there was something there, but also something missing. So I tried his scissor suggestion, and I felt the pressure in the leaf change, it was like I was holding it in a pair of chopsticks. So I followed his suggestion trying to make it thin and sharp. I was only a little successful - I managed to cut it a little." said Temari.

"That's more than a little successful." said the wind shadow, surprising Temari. "Temari this a jounin skill, it took some years to learn how to manipulate their chakra, and then they needed to learn how to apply these lessons. Which you have done well."

"Thank you, Tousama." said Temari, at a loss for words.

"Now tell me about the child that helped you. Konoha-san was it?" asked the Kazekage.

"Naruto Konoha. He is a polite and formal boy for the most most part. He also has the habit of using word games." said Temari.

"Word games?" he asked.

"Well at first, he didn't know where the training fields were. So I said that we were lost. He said that he knew exactly where we were."

"Ah, as if to imply he wasn't lost, he just didn't know where the training fields were." he almost laughed, almost. "And his how old? six?"

"His seven." she corrected.

"Seven. Its a good skill to have, and he intends to become a shinobi?" he asked.

"Yes tousama. He starts in a few months. Why are you so interested in him?" she asked.

"What do you know of noble bastards?" he asked.

"Not much. Only that their family name is of the village _they belong to_." she finished in realisation. "and he admitted to being one."

"Yes, unless of course if they have a claim to a family or clan name." he replied. "They are obviously bastards of high standing shinobi in their village, or of high-ranking clan."

"So you think he is from one of these?" she asked, curiously.

"I know he is from one of these. I know exactly which too." he replied.

"Which?" she asked, the suspense killing her.

"Uzumaki." he replied, a slight smirk playing at his lips.

* * *

 **Naruto**

 **Clan district**

The young vibrant red head once again found himself at the gates of the Sarutobi estate. The gate guards appeared to be solemn. He found that to be odd. _I wonder what happened? Did one of the elders die? Or maybe a pet monkey? Maybe their favourite smokes shipment is late?_ He pondered to himself.

As he passed most of houses he noticed that they were empty, even the park lacked young Sarutobi clan members running around. Naruto knew something must be going on, so he took off in a jog. He noticed that all the clan members were gathered at the back of the clan heads house.

They were all dressed in black. . .well more black than usual. When he arrived he was noticed by Saru-sama. "Naruto-kun, come join us, you are our honoured guest after all."

Naruto hesitantly made his way over to the main Sarutobi clan members. "We are all gathered here today to mourn the loss of my son." said Saru-sama, tears trickling from his eyes. "Sasuke Sarutobi, the second of his name has been missing in action for a while. Not even my student Jiraiya has been able to locate him with his immense spy network. Nor has Hokage-sama been able to. The only conclusion is he has been killed in action."

Naruto eyes widened at that statement. He turned to his right and noticed a great picture frame. Why hadn't he noticed this before. A young man was in the picture frame. He wore a Konoha forehead protector, reminiscent of the Nidaime Hokage, he had a strong black goatee, that was trimmed perfectly. His eyes were light brown with a slight hint of orange. He had long shaggy brown hair with orange streaks appearing ever so often. He wore the Konoha flak jacket with a few additions. The hem was burnt orange, and the right lapel had "fire" sewn into it, while the left had wind sewn into it. Under that he wore a white combat short sleeve shirt and burnt orange bracer's.

At that moment Naruto didn't even notice the tears that were rolling down his cheeks. "...too many he was known as Amaterasu(The great divinity illuminating heaven) no Sasuke. To us he was a son, a brother, a cousin, a husband, a father. He was our will of fire."

Naruto knelled down in front of the picture, not even noticing Konohamaru sitting down alongside him. Tears freely flowing down each of their eyes as they gave out heart wrenching sobs.

"I. . .still remember the first time. . ." Naruto sobbed. "the first time I met you. You saved me from them."

* * *

 **Naruto**

 **Age five**

Naruto pushed himself off his feet and dusted off his black shorts. "And stay out demon!"

"Look its the demon fox!" shrilled a high-pitched voice.

"Why don't you leave us alone? Haven't you tortured us enough?" asked brown haired woman.

"Yeah just go already!" shouted a child about three years older than Naruto.

"Yeah nobody want you anyway. And that red hair! Eww." said a girl with pink hair.

The next thing Naruto knew, a tomato had impacted his face. It was awfully over ripe. It dripped from his face on to his clothes. He then felt another, and another all of them accompanied by insults.

"Just leave us demon!" shouted another.

"You killed my brother." another sobbed.

"My father!"

"my lover!"

"My son!"

They ran out of rotten tomatoes so they started throwing stones. Naruto watched as the stone approached his head. He couldn't do anything about it. Tears streaked down his face. The stone hit his head. It drew blood, and he didn't even let out a pained gasp. he was too entranced by the words that they spat at him.

 _Demon._

 _Fox._

 _Killer._

Another stone was lobbed at him, this time bigger. He watched it in morbid fascination. Then his vision went black. Surprisingly he was still conscious. He felt no pain. Nor did he feel any blood.

"What are you doing?" said a villager, "Get away from the demon!"

"Demon?" asked a voice, it was man. "Where?"

"Behind you!" shrieked a woman.

"Yikes!" he screamed, as he turned around. But he saw no demon.

"Ahaha! That was a good one!" he laughed uproariously. "You really had me going there for a second."

"It is a demon! The child!" shrieked an elderly woman. "It hides in the boys skin."

"No, that's not possible. He is only a _child_. If he really was a demon would it be wise to provoke him?" asked the man, Naruto could see him now. He had shaggy dark hair, and facial hair on his chin. His eyes were light brown, with a hint of orange, much like flickering embers of flame. He wore a jonin flak jacket with a burnt orange hem, and dark pants. "He can only be a _child_ , no demon would allow such insults. I'm a fair man. If I see any of you hurting this _child_ , I will simply return the gesture. This boy is now under the protection of the great Sasuke-sama!"

The rest of the street stared at him, their mouths gaping like fish.

"Come on gaki, lets get you cleaned up." said Sasuke as he lifted the boy on to his shoulders.

The teary-eyed boy said. "Hai, Sasuke-sama."

"You don't have to call me that. You can call me Sasuke." he replied.

"Hai, Sasuke-sama." said Naruto.

"Damn it, I had to open my big mouth."sighed Sasuke, dejectedly.

* * *

 **Naruto**

 **Present time**

"Ever since I met you those people let me into their stores." sobbed Naruto. " some would only let me into the stores. But others said sorry. They didn't know what came over them. They were only angry. Not at me, but because of what happened to them."

"Tousan! Why did you have to die and leave me here. I'm all alone. You were supposed to protect me, and when I get strong enough, I was supposed to protect you. Why tousan. . ." Naruto heard as the young Sarutobi beside him wept.

Naruto eyes widened, Konohamaru had triggered another memory.

* * *

 **About Two moths prior**

 **Naruto**

 **Konoha northern gate**

"What are you doing here Naruto-kun?" asked Sasuke Sarutobi.

"Saru-sama told me that you would be leaving on a mission and I should say goodbye." said Naruto, a slight smile on his lips.

"Ahaha. I'm sorry I didn't come and say goodbye." said Sasuke sheepishly.

"That's okay Sasuke-sama. Good luck on your mission and I cant wait for you to get back. Neither can Konohamaru, he said that you were going to take us out for ice-cream when you get back!" grinned Naruto.

"Ho! Is that all I am to you and Konohamaru-kun? Mhm? Your ice-cream slave?" joked Sasuke.

"Yes Sasuke-sama." said Naruto nodding innocently.

"Fine, but I have a mission for you." said Sasuke. His demeanour completely serious.

"What is it? Is it cool Sasuke-sama?" asked Naruto, excitedly.

"The coolest!" said Sasuke.

"What is it?" asked Naruto, seriously.

"First, is I need you to protect Konohamaru. This a long running s-rank mission. You will be relieved by me when I return. When I leave on another mission you will take over once more. Do you accept this mission?" asked Sasuke, in a mock serious manner.

"I do." Naruto saluted.

"Good then that leaves only one other mission for you to accept." remarked Sasuke.

"What is it? Is it even cooler?" asked Naruto.

"Yes, I want to you look after my plants."

 _Is it weird that someone who is fire-crazy likes plants?_ Naruto thought to himself before answering. "Hai Sasuke-sama."

Sasuke grinned. "Great, that takes a load off my shoulders." and he tussled Naruto's already messy red hair. "See ya, kid." Sasuke turned around, and Naruto watched him disappear from view.

"Goodbye Sasuke-sama." waved Naruto, a lone tear falling from his eye.

* * *

 **Naruto**

 **Present time**

Naruto moved closer to Konohamaru and wrapped his arm around his shoulders and hugged him. "Don't worry Konohamaru. I will protect you, and then you can protect me."

"Re-Really?" asked Konohamaru hopefully.

"Really." Naruto affirmed. His little brother wouldn't be harmed by anyone, if he had anything to say about it.

* * *

 **A/N:** **so this the first chapter. I plan to continue this on to be a multi-chapter story. This was only the opening chapter. My version of Naruto is a little different from canon. So is the fact that Minato is alive and well. Not only that, but he has no relationship with Naruto that can be seen right a way.**

 **I decided to include Sasuke in the story because nobody knows who Konohamaru's father is. So I decided to give him significance to Naruto as well. I portrayed Sasuke as a little Jiraiya-ish, but that's not surprising since he is Sasuke's fathers student. Obviously Sasuke is named after his grandfather, much like Sasuke Uchiha was named after the same man.**

 **A/N2: I found a lot of typos after re-reading it. Sorry about that but I think I fixed all of them.**


	2. Chapter 2

**The inheritor of the Rikudou Sennin's will**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any associated characters. Kishimoto does or obviously this would be cannon rather than Fanfiction.**

 **Chapter 2: New friends**

* * *

It had been three months since the death of Sasuke Sarutobi. Naruto had not taken it well. He confided his pain to Saru-sama, who's only advice was that the wounds of the heart had only one cure, and that was time.

The advice was sound, because Naruto had become more accustomed to the fact that his most precious person had died. His first friend had died. Naruto had actually started the academy about a week was their last day until next week, there was supposed to be a surprise today.

Naruto couldn't bring himself to care. His class on the other hand, that was the most interesting part. All of them were clan children of some type.

He looked up from his desk scanning the class. In front of him sat Shikamaru Nara - a lazy looking boy with dark eyes and hair in pineapple inspired hairstyle. His cloths were picked with such thought, it was impossible for the Nara to be thought as completely lazy. His outfit was picked out in such a way that he could easily slip into it with little effort. Loose brown shorts that could double as sleepwear and a grey zip-up shirt.

Next to him sat his best friend the Akimichi heir - Choji Akimichi. The child was characteristically munching on a packet of potato chips. The Akimichi wore a set of clothes that emulated his best friend. His shirt was a two-toned grey and beige zip-up. And his pants were loose blue shorts. The Akimichi heir also had a pink swirl on each cheek.

Naruto turned his attention to the seat next to his own, beside him sat the Aburame heir. Shino Aburame. The boy was a deathly pale individual, he would be considered as much even if he lived the land of snow. He was also mostly silent and when he spoke, nothing but cold hard logic was uttered from his maw.

The boy wore black shades, and a grey high collared trench coat. He also wore long dark grey pants. Naruto got along with Shino, he may not laugh at the jokes he sometimes made during his brighter periods, but that was only because he didn't understand the concept of humour.

To the next row sat Menma Uzumaki-Namikaze, the son of Hokage-sama and Kushina Uzumaki-sama - the Konoha Uzumaki clan head. He was the picture perfect model of his father except he had violet eyes and slight, almost unnoticeable streaks of vibrant red against the golden blonde. His cheeks also had three distinct whisker-scars on either side.

The boy wore a black hoody with red striped on each arm and a Uzumaki symbol sewn onto the back. His pants were dark blue with tape around the ankles.

Naruto didn't much care for the boy, he was incredibly boisterous and he liked to joke around. Not to mention he was both arrogant and blunt.

To his right was Kiba Inuzuka. The second born to the Inuzuka clan Matriarch. The Inuzuka clan didn't have the most conventional line of succession as far as clan succession goes. The clan head at the time could be challenged. The mainline family will always stay the same, they just would not be in charge.

The boy had spiky brown hair and slitted brown eyes and He had red fang marking on each cheek. He wore a long sleeved v-neck shirt with brown elbow patches on his arm. His pants were navy-blue knee-length shorts.

Last in the row was Sasuke Uchiha. The younger brother to the Uchiha clan heir, Itachi Uchiha. the boy had pale skin and dark eyes. His raven hair fell over his forehead in four separate bangs, and the rest of it jutted out at the back.

He wore a dark-blue, High-collared sleeveless-shirt. Under that he wore a short-sleeve black shirt. His pants were white and knee-length shorts. His shins were wrapped until the ankles with combat wraps.

Sasuke was a silent confident boy for the most part, except when it came to answering questions the teachers directed at them. Then he would shoot his hand up faster than a Raiton Jutsu and answer the question without errors, nor any need for elaboration.

Naruto moved on to the set of desks above the three boys. In the left most seat sat Mito Uzumaki-Namikaze. The daughter of Minato and Kushina Namikaze. Additionally she is also the twin sister of Menma Uzumaki-Namikaze. She had long blue-violet hair tied in a a pony tail, with two bangs of hair on either side of her face. Her cheeks, much like her brother had three whisker marks on each cheek.

Around her neck was the Uzumaki clan symbol on a simple necklace, accompanied by a three-pronged kunai charm. She wore a loose yellow shirt with the Uzumaki symbol sewn on to her back. She wore black below knee length dark pants with a yellow strip on the right side.

Naruto wasn't to fond of her either, she was much like her brother, with a side dish of overly cheerful. Right at this moment she was bored out of her mind. That was another thing, she completely abhorred the theoretical and mental aspect of learning. He hoped that she would be decent at the physical aspect.

Next to her sat Sakura Haruno. The Heiress of a merchant clan, her father was once a shinobi, and if it is to be believed, she is related the senju, and by extension the Yamanaka and the Uzumaki.

She had short pink hair with two bangs resting on either side of her face. Her hair was tied back by a red ribbon, and this allowed her to show off her larger than average forehead. She had large emerald green eyes that radiated innocence. She wore a black elbow length shirt with three cuts along each arm. The shirt also split on the side at the hem. She wore below knee-length beige pants and brown shinobi sandals.

Naruto didn't really have much of an opinion on her, she was shy a girl. However when it come to academics she focuses on it completely. She is also best friend with Ino Yamanaka, and Mito Uzumaki-Namikaze is her friend.

Last in the row was Ino Yamanaka - the Yamanaka clan heiress. She had short neck-length pale blonde hair - characteristic of the Yamanaka clan - with two bangs of smooth hair framing either side of her face. Her hair was held in place by two purple hair clips. She had crystal blue eyes with a thick ring of black on the outside, with no pupil in the centre.

She wore a light sweater that was pulled up to mid-elbow length. The sweater had a dark brown patten that started from the neck, and ran down the centre of either arm, it split at the upper biceps creating a oval shape and reformed into one stripe going down each arm. In the centre of the oval the word "shinobi" was printed into it. She wore a dark-brown above knee-length pants with a white hem. Her neck, wrists and ankles all had a pair of silver Necklaces, bracelets and anklets respectively. She also wore a pair of dark brown shinobi sandals.

Ino was confident a girl, that was both arrogant and intelligent. She was a cheery enough individual, that seemed to cherish those that she deemed her friend. She was an incredible social creature, and its likely that she chose Mito as a friend simply for her connection to Yondaime-sama and Menma Uzumaki-Namikaze, and by extension Sasuke Uchiha, the younger brother of Itachi Uchiha. The likelihood of Sasuke becoming a prodigy like his brother was quite high, and that would bring him pretty high up on the social order, and the same is true for her by association. These were Naruto's thoughts on the matter. He had always been perceptive, he just needed his targets to show enough of themselves for him to ascertain their motivations.

He moved his attention to the table above them, closest to the left sat Hinata Hyuga - The heiress of the Hyuga clan. She had navy-blue hair styled in a princess-cut. Her eyes were pale-white with a hint of lavender, as well as pupil-less.

She wore a light-grey plain hoody, with fur lining the bottom. Her pants were deep navy-blue and reached her ankles.

The Hyuga was a quiet one, even when talking to her friend Yakumo - who was equally quiet and shy. From what Naruto could discern she possessed a bright mind, and was kind to others. But she did seem to be gaining confidence the more time she spent with her friend.

Next to the Hyuga heiress sat Yakumo Kurama, the heiress to the famed and obscure Kurama clan.

She had short brown hair, and light brown-eyes, that seemed to have an earthy undercurrent to them. She wore a long sleeved pink kimono top that was decorated with green swirls. The kimono top was tucked into a mid-shin length navy-blue pants. The rest of her legs were covered by white combat wraps until the ankle. Her shinobi sandals were dark grey.

She was almost as introvert as her friend Hinata. However she had her moments of boldness. Naruto really had no real opinions of the girl, really the only person that he liked in the class was Shino. That was also largely because when he tried to befriend the other students but they shied away.

 _What is with this whole villages dislike of me? I_ _'_ _ve never done anything to deserve it. They even see me as a demon, as a demon fox. Its so bad that children my age see me as the same. I feel bad that I chose Shino as my friend, because everyone else didn't want to be my friend. Or maybe it was the same for him?_ Naruto thought to himself, somewhat sadly.

"Alright quiet down!" shouted their chunin instructor.

Naruto turned his attention to the chunin instructor. Iruka Umino. He had long black hair tied into a ponytail. Around his forehead was a navy blue cloth with a metal plate pinned to it. The metal plate had the the Konoha symbol - a stylised leaf with a spiral in the middle - engraved into it.

He had dark brown eyes and tanned skin. He had a thick scar across his nose and part of his cheeks under each eye. He wore a dark blue long sleeved shirt and above ankle length pants. Over his shirt he wore a zipped-up Konoha chunin flak jacket.

Once the class was sufficiently silenced he continued. "As we told you on Wednesday, there would be a surprise today. And that surprise is. . ."

"Is. . ." the rest of class murmured.

"You will all be receiving a. . ." said Iruka taking another dramatic pause.

"A what?" the class asked in frustration.

"A bunny." finished Iruka.

"A what?" asked Kiba and Menma in unison, while Sasuke seemed to agree.

"A bunny, a rabbit." said Iruka, clarifying it for the students.

"We know what it is!" remarked Kiba in distaste. "why are we getting a _bunny_."

"And what's wrong with bunnies?" Asked Iruka, with a raised eyebrow.

"They're all fluffy, and useless and girlie!" he shouted. Menma and Sasuke nodded in agreement.

"Shut up Baka!" shouted Ino, Sakura, Naruto and surprisingly Yakumo. Hinata surprisingly in a show of boldness nodded in firm agreement. For her that was as bold as it gets.

Kiba ducked his head in an effort to hide from the angry glares.

"Kiba does have a point." said Iruka receiving scandalised looks from the all the girls present. "Oh relax, what I mean is, he is right to ask the reason for it. Remember, that if you hope to survive the life of a shinobi you should never stop asking questions. You should never stop asking the reasons why people do the things that they do."

"Then what is the point of the bunnies?" asked Naruto. "it must have some benefit to our shinobi training."

"I agree with Naruto-san. This the shinobi academy and our sensei would not teach us a pointless skill." said Shino.

"You are both correct. The bunny rabbit acts as both your client and a support-type team mate." said Iruka.

"What do you mean Iruka-sensei?" asked Sakura.

"I mean that you need to to care for and protect your bunny rabbit. The same is true for your client and and support-type team mate. I know I haven't gone over ninja missions and team formation with you, since you only started the academy a week ago. Its my hope that the bunny rabbit will allow those that are practically orientated to grasp what those that are theoretically orientated glean from studying. Even then the theoretically minded will take the life of a ninja more seriously, as it will be much more real than words on paper." explained Iruka.

Most of the class nodded in understanding, but there were others that still did not grasp the message that he was trying to convey.

"Why does it have to be bunnies sensei? Couldn't it be something more manly? Like dogs?" asked Kiba.

"Bunnies were chosen by the school board and Hokage-sama."said Iruka.

Kiba grumbled to himself but he didn't complain further.

"Sensei what did you mean by speech earlier?" asked Mito.

 _At least she isn't afraid to ask a question at the risk of sounding clueless or stupid._ Iruka thought happily to himself. "What I meant was that some of you may not like studying. You prefer lessons that are tangible. Lessons like stealth, weapon throwing, Taijutsu spars or fights. So this way the message will get through to even those that don't pay much attention in class or to the books." said Iruka.

"Oh. ." she said dumbly.

Before any other questions could be asked a chunin and a few older academy students came into the class carrying rabbit cages. There were around twelve of them in total.

The chunin wore the general Konoha attire. A long sleeved shirt, a chunin flak jacket and long ankle-length pants. The man had shoulder length silver hair and dark eyes. He had a rather strong build, a Taijutsu expert most likely.

 _Its lucky for us that there aren't many students in this then again we do need the man power; but if we had any other students they would likely be related to the civilian council. That would be bad. . .especially with_ _ **him**_ _in the class._ Iruka thought to himself, while he watched the older student leave the class after setting the cages on the table.

"Mizuki-sensei will be handing each of you a rabbit cage. I will be coming around with a notes that I have compiled for each of you. These notes contain grooming, habitat, eating habits and training information on your new pets." said Iruka, he received high pitched excited cries from all of the girls present.

Sasuke, Menma and Kiba grumbled something that sounded a lot like "so uncool."

Shikamaru sighed. "Troublesome."

Choji smiled at the rabbits and ate his potato chips.

Shino buzzed, but beyond that he had no outward reaction.

Naruto grinned widely at the prospect of a new friend. Especially since it was severely unlikely that the rabbit would judge him like many of the residents in Konohagakure no Sato.

Mizuki started on the right side of the class from bottom to top, while Iruka handed out the compiled notes to the left side of the class from the bottom to the top.

After a couple of minutes the two academy instructors finally handed out a rabbit and notes on how to care for them to each student. Naruto smirked at how miffed Kiba was to see the rabbit. He then turned his attention to the girls who were cooing at the their adorable little rabbits.

Naruto looked down at his own, its base colour was black, while its chest had a patch of white fur. The rabbit looked up curiously at Naruto, he smiled back at the rabbit and reached his finger into the cage and he scratched the rabbit's head.

"Okay that's class for today." said Iruka-sensei. "By Monday I want you to have a name for your new pet rabbits. Now don't be afraid to ask your parents or someone older for help. Just try to do as much as you can, this is after all your assignment."

"Hai sensei" the class chorused.

Naruto picked up his rabbit cage and waved to Shino. "See you Monday Shino-san."

Shino gave a nod of acknowledgement. "Hai Naruto-san."

They may not of been the most functional of friends for their age, but who ever said that ninja - or ninja in-training - were functional.

Naruto hurried to his apartment. he was given the apartment as part of the orphan academy program. If a child was an orphan they would be given an apartment when they entered the academy. Additionally someone would come around - in most cases a genin - to teach him how to cook, clean and maintain his dwelling in the correct way. The furniture they were given was rather Spartan. A couch, a bed, a kitchen table, a cupboard and a bedside table.

Naruto reached his apartment and unlocked his door. _I'm lucky that most of the people in my apartment aren't mean to me. Then again they are super cool ninja, they're to busy to waste their time._

He set the rabbit cage down after making sure the windows and door was closed, and then he let the black rabbit out of its cage. He placed his hand above the rabbits head and waited. The rabbit sniffed at his palm before pushing its head into his hand. Naruto rubbed the rabbits head before he allowed the rabbit to explore.

He picked up the notes and began reading.

 _Your rabbits cage needs a thick layer of straw in the base of the cage to provide padding for your new pets. This straw needs to be changed everyday to avoid sickness and disease in the rabbits._

 _Its convenient to have a sipper bottle filled with water. The rabbit will sip from this bottle when thirsty. The best place to put it is on one of the cage walls, with the metallic straw facing the bottom of the cage. The water needs to be changed everyday to ensure your rabbit has fresh water all the time._

 _Most of your rabbits diet consists of alfalfa hay for younger rabbits, and adults eat Timothy and oat hays. Placing some hay in the litter box will encourage the rabbit to use the litter box._

 _Other food consists of celery, broccoli leaves, mint parsley and can also feed your rabbits pellets which you'll find at most pet stores._

 _You should remember to allow your rabbits room to stretch and not confine them to the cage all the time._

Naruto put down the rest of the notes, they were all about training a rabbit to use the litter box, how to determine their gender and follow given commands.

Naruto picked up the rabbit and placed it back in the cage. He noticed that the sipper-bottle, a food dish and a litter box came along with the cage. So all he really needed was to buy food and straw, maybe a toy too.

* * *

Naruto left his apartment after locking up and went straight to the convenience store that he usually bought his groceries from. "Hello Satoshi-sama."

"Ah, Naruto-kun." greeted a middle-aged man. He had salt and pepper coloured hair and brown eyes. "What can I do for you today?"

"I need you to buy me Timothy hay and straw from the pet shop." said Naruto, he didn't know if the pet shop would let him buy anything from their store.

"Why? What do you need it for?" asked the shop keeper.

"The academy gave the class rabbits. We need to feed them and take care of them." Naruto grinned. "I cant have my my new rabbit dying on me."

"Too right you are." smiled the man, "I'll deliver it to you after I close up shop. Is there anything you need from my shop?"

"Well I have most of my groceries at home, and a genin is going to come past the house to give me another cooking lesson, so I should be fine. How about some celery?" Asked Naruto.

The man nodded before procuring some celery from the produce section of the store. "Two hundred ryou please." said the shopkeeper.

Naruto dug into his pocket and handed the man money before waving to the man jauntily. "Thanks Satoshi-sama. I heard that you had a baby, ask me to babysit if you need too, any time I'm not in the academy is okay."

"Will do Naruto-kun." the man called out after him.

* * *

Naruto smiled as he walked back to his apartment. Ever since Sasuke-sama had protected him, the villages in that region of Konoha and started warming up to him. He could at least do most of his shopping there and when he couldn't, he could ask one of the shopkeepers to buy what he needed.

Not to say Naruto was over the treatment he had been exposed to. Far from it. It was just that in the dark cloud that was Konoha, there was a small, yet visible silver lining.

* * *

 **Three days later. . .**

"Okay that's class." said Iruka as he just finished his history lesson on the founding of Konoha.

The class sighed in relief. There hands were beginning to ache. Most of class had brought the rabbits with them in the cage today except for Naruto and Shino.

Shino's rabbit remained snuggled in his massive trench coat while Naruto's rabbit took residents on top of the boys head.

"Now before you leave for your next class, I want you to stand up when I call and tell me the name of your pet rabbits and whether they're a boy or girl." instructed Iruka-sensei.

The class nodded in acceptance. "Shino Aburame."

The stoic youth stood up and took his mostly brown rabbit out of his trench coat. It had white paws that looked like socks. "My rabbits name is Gūrin and she is female."

Iruka nodded before jotting it down and then he motioned for the Aburame to sit.

"Choji Akimichi" said Iruka.

Choji stood up his cage in hand. He had a white rabbit with a brown patch over the right eye and two cloud shaped patterns over the body. "My rabbits name is Chō and his a boy."

"Sakura Haruno."

The pink haired girl got up and showed off her grey furred companion. "Hairo and he is a boy." she chirped happily.

"Hinata Hyuga."

The Hyuga heiress showed off her pure white rabbit. It had no other patterns or colours. It was completely white. The girls cooed at the sight of the cute rabbit. "Th-this is Kei-Keihi, and he is a b-bo-boy" she stuttered meekly.

Iruka nodded before taking down the information.

"Inuzuka Kiba."

Kiba got up and showed his light-brown fluffy companion to the class. "Tsume, and she is a girl."

"Naruto Konoha." said Iruka.

Naruto took his black rabbit off his head and showed off his new pet to the classroom. "This is Amaterasu-chan and she is a girl."

Iruka nodded while jotting down on his clipboard before calling the next name."Yakumo Kurama." .

The brunette showed off her snow white rabbit with brown patches over each eye. "My rabbits name is Rei and she is a girl." she said shyly.

Iruka jotted it down and continued. "Shikamaru Nara."

"Shikamaru wake up." Choji prodded at his best friend.

"Shikamaru wake up!" shouted Iruka. Still the boy didn't wake up, so the chunin-sensei threw his pen with pinpoint accuracy. It hit the Nara in his head prompting a yell of pain.

"Oww!" Shikamaru grasped his head in pain. "This is-this-this is so troublesome."

"Tell me the name and gender of your rabbit Shikamaru." said Iruka.

Shikamaru spied his dark brown rabbit, and thought for a second before answering. "His name is. . .Usagi. Whether it is a boy or girl doesn't matter to me."

Iruka sighed, jotted the name down with a growl after procuring a new pen from his pocket.

"Sasuke Uchiha."

Sasuke got up showing his multicoloured rabbit to the class. It was grey, brown, and white in varying shades. "This is Uchiwa, and he is a boy.'

Iruka nodded, he jotted down another name. "Menma Uzumaki-Namikaze."

Menma got up and showed his brown rabbit with black patch over its right eye to the class. "This is Raijin-kun and he is a boy." said Menma.

Iruka nodded before jotting it down. He moved on to the boys sister. "Mito Uzumaki-Namikaze."

She showed off her brown rabbit with white patch over it left eye. "This Fujin-kun and he is a boy." Iruka took down the information once more and continued.

"Ino Yamanaka."

Ino smiled as she showed her light grey rabbit to the class. "This is Hana and she is a girl." she smiled

* * *

 **Konohagakure no Sato**

 **Naruto's apartment**

 **Three days later. . .**

Naruto knelled down on his living room floor, his rabbit Amaterasu was about half a metre away from him. Naruto held a strawberry in his hand while another was slightly in front of him. "To me Amaterasu-chan." Naruto said loud and clearly.

The rabbit gave him a curious look before it hopped forward towards the strawberry that was placed on the living room floor. she sniffed at the strawberry curiously before she gobbled it up in one go.

Naruto nodded a smile tugging at his lips, he restrained himself from celebrating less he take his new pet by surprise and scare her. "That's it, come on." said Naruto in restrained excitement.

Naruto opened his hand as the rabbit hesitantly hopped forward. She sniffed at his hand before gobbling up the strawberry in delight. Naruto scratched her head and she leaned into the touch.

"You're going to make me broke." said Naruto fondly.

Amaterasu looked up at him and her nose twitched a little.

"Oh alright, but this is the last one!" Naruto relented, as he procured another strawberry and fed it to his insanely cute rabbit.

"Okay lets take that from the top."

* * *

 **Konohagakure no Sato**

 **Naruto's apartment**

 **One week later**

Naruto sat cross legged on the floor of his apartment while his rabbit sat about two metres away from him. "To me Amaterasu-chan."

The rabbit cocked her head at him.

"To me, Amaterasu-chan." he said little more firmly.

She hesitantly hopped forward.

"To me, Amaterasu-chan." he said much more firmly.

She jumped forward, and then again and again until she reached him.

Naruto smiled brightly before feeding her one of his strawberries. "Well done, Amaterasu-chan."

* * *

It continued that way for a long while. It took Naruto a month to teach Amaterasu to come to him without hesitation. He hadn't been able to get her to do it without the promise of a treat. However progress is progress, who was he to complain?

Naruto had also learned a lot in his ninja academy classes, such as the history of Konoha, some history before Konoha came to be, as well as how it came to be. The other subjects that he studied were introductions into mathematics, Geography, Art and Language.

That brought back a memory from class.

* * *

 **Konohagakure no Sato**

 **Shinobi Academy**

 **Sometime halfway through the year**

"But I don't get it Iruka-sensei. Why do we have to know art and language if we are going to be shinobi?" groaned Mito.

"Yeah sensei. My mom has already started training me in Taijutsu. What's drawing and language got to do with being a ninja!"

"Art is not only about drawing. Art is anything that you use your creativity to achieve."said Iruka.

"That still has nothing to do with ninja."said Sasuke agreeing with Kiba.

"I find myself agreeing with them sensei." said Shino.

"And you Naruto?" asked Iruka. "Do you agree?"

"I agree with Shino. Or more so, I find myself agreeing with what he said a few months ago. He said that since this the shinobi academy, and you are our chunin-sensei, you wouldn't teach us something that is pointless. So I don't know what use these subjects would be to shinobi, I only know that if you are teaching it to us, then it must have a point." said Naruto.

"Well I guess its too soon to expect you all to get the uses of these subjects on your own. Its also unfair, since I haven't given you a background on most of the shinobi arts yet. So you would not know how to apply it." said Iruka, thoughtfully. "Which should I explain first?"

"Language." said Mito.

"Okay, language skills will improve your communication or your ability to get your point across. On the same vein it allows you to improve your skills of understanding. How it applies to ninja is your teamwork can only improve if you are able to get your point across and at the same time understand the points of your team mates."explained Iruka. "Next is mission reports. Either verbally or written reports need the ability to communicate."

"Why? Cant we just say we beat up the enemy ninja saved the the princess and lived happily ever after." asked Kiba.

Iruka resisted the urge to face palm. "No, Hokage-sama needs details, especially in cases of international incidents. If your kage backs you up because of your poor communication, you can end up hurting both them and your country during meetings of an international or diplomatic nature." said Iruka. "And that brings me to my last point. Diplomacy. All the details are needed so that Hokage-sama is able to cover the village, or at the very least shield the village from any political backlash. Moving further into diplomacy besides the ramifications of poor communication between a ninja and their kage on an international scale. If there is a miscommunication between diplomats they may end up offending the opposing country or diplomat, and that could lead to war. All because of poor communication."

Most of the class nodded in understanding.

"Okay, then what about art? That cant be of any use." said Menma.

"Well let me give you a few goals that art has in most of the projects or exercises that you are given. Perceptiveness, an eye for detail and creativity." said Iruka.

"How does that help us?" asked Kiba, Sakura nodded.

"Lets start with creativity. Who here has heard of Yondaime Hokage-sama?" asked Iruka.

Everybody raised their hands to the sky, and two the learners present for obvious reasons rolled their eyes. "Good. Then you know that he created a Jutsu that is feared even as far as Tsuchi no kuni. The Rasengan." said Iruka. "And how did he achieve this?"

Naruto raised his hand. "With creativity."

"Exactly! And its not only limited to creating new Ninjutsu, but it also can be used in using existing Jutsu in new and innovative ways. Creativity is also a major part of Genjutsu and has its part in strategy." said Iruka.

The class murmured in understanding.

"Possessing an eye for detail can help you immensely in the life of a ninja. It helps you detect Genjutsu, unless of course if the Genjutsu practitioner has an eye for detail themselves. It also plays a part in defending against and utilising successful ambushes. Lastly it also assists those who have no major tracking traits such as ninken, or advanced senses in tracking. If you are able to pick up details like foot prints, disturbed trees, animals acting erratically, and so on. Are you all with me?"

"Hai sensei." chorused the class.

"Now being perceptive can also be a great boon to shinobi. They are able to pick up lies, and and enemy shinobi telegraphing their attacks. It assists you in picking up moods, which can help you immensely, because sometimes clients are not upfront about the whole mission, and being able to pick up their moods and what they say and how they say it to find a clue as what their goals are, is all a part of the powers of perception. As I said perceptiveness allows you to make a life saving conclusion from the smallest of clues."

"How do we learn that from art?" asked Naruto.

"Well, it isn't as visible as the other traits of art. For most objects, scenes or emotions there is a mostly collective definition of these things. What you have to do is find your own definition of these things and explain why you have portrayed it a certain way, with backup arguments supporting the reason you see it the way you do. We also work on strategy with you. Although only starting next year."

"H-How d-does strategy improve our per-percep-perceptiveness?"asked Hinata.

"Well we will give you a certain scenario, and your goal is to decipher what the strategy of the enemy shinobi is, based on their actions, and also how you would counter those strategies. This basic exercise will continue getting more and more complex the more you improve." explained Iruka, the passion in his eyes showed that he couldn't think of a better place to be than educating young minds.

* * *

 **Konohagakure no Sato**

 **Streets of Konoha**

 **Present time**

Naruto without a doubt believed that everything that his sensei's taught at the academy - no matter how odd they seemed at first - had a reason. That was the exact reason that Naruto was excited today, Mizuki-sensei would be teaching the class simple punching and kicking.

While not the most exciting of exercises, it was the first practical lesson that they received. Unless of course if you count the art projects.

Naruto swivelled his head around on the street and he noticed that Shino seemed to be following him from a distance. "Oi! Shino-san."

The Aburame youth twitched slightly, before making his way over to him. Naruto watched as the trench coat fluttered in the wind. It slightly reminded him of Yondaime-sama's short sleeved haori.

"Why were you following me? Shino-san?" asked Naruto.

"You confuse me." he simply stated.

"And following me, will help you figure me out? I'm not much different now than in class." said Naruto.

"You are correct. But I cant understand why you treat me normally. Most of our classmates and their parents do not like me because I am "weird" or "Icky" and you treat me like you would treat anyone else." said the Aburame heir.

Naruto gave him a thoughtful look. "Because I am the same."

"You are not Aburame. This is illogical to say." said Shino.

Naruto sighed. "What I mean is our classmates don't like me. They backed away from me on the first day, and whenever I approach them they run away. You didn't which is because nobody wanted to be your friend. I wouldn't call you my friend, we don't know each other well enough. But I trust and respect you more than all the students in class."

"Thank you Naruto-san, for being honest." said Shino.

"Don't worry about it. If you want to, we could hang out more, and I don't mean just having lunch together, but actually speaking, and getting to know one another." said Naruto.

"I would like that." said Shino, if Naruto could read his emotions, he would be able to pick up the excitement in his voice.

"Come on, lets race to class!" yelled Naruto excitedly before taking off.

"Naruto-san! This race is fixed. Why? Because you had a head start!" shouted Shino as he ran after Naruto.

"What's that? Did you say something?" Naruto yelled back, unbeknownst to him a silver haired Anbu-captain/Elite Jonin sneezed into his face mask.

"Must not drain my new friends chakra. Must not drain my new friends chakra." Shino repeated to himself while he tried to catch up to Naruto who was steadily increasing the distance between himself and Shino.

* * *

 **Shinobi Academy**

 **A couple of minutes later**

"Ha! I beat you Shino!" Naruto show boated.

"I believe it is I who won." said Shino, in between gulps of breath.

"What do you mean Shino-san? I clearly beat you. Don't tell me that you're a sore loser."

 _Its you who will be sore when I'm done with you._ Shino grumbled internally. "You had a head-start."

"The only rule to racing someone to the academy is being the first one there. And well I was the first one here. So better luck next time Shino-san!" Naruto grinned at the end of his explanation.

"This is not fair." he grumbled.

"And people not liking us isn't either. But here we are." Naruto shrugged.

"That is true." said Shino nodding, before his lips twitched slightly and he took off running. "Race you to class!"

"Got me with my own trick!" Naruto grumbled, but there was a smile on his face nonetheless.

* * *

 **Academy classroom**

After their race to class - which Shino won - they took their seats in their usual position in the back of the class. Sasuke, Menma and Mito were already in class, and they gave the two odd looks as they came racing into the class. So did Iruka not used to seeing such tomfoolery from Shino - or any Aburame for that mater - nor from Naruto, who was a quiet boy that did what he was told to do and did it well - he was almost unnoticeable, even with his shocking red hair. The only reason anybody ever paid attention to him was because he is the Kyuubi Jinchuriki.

The rest of day was mostly standard academy procedure, until Iruka brought up their practical for the day. "Hands up, who here has already been taught Taijutsu by their clan, parents or guardians?"

Iruka looked around at the raised hands. _it looks like Naruto - for obvious reasons - Sakura, Ino - that's a surprise - and Yakumo are the only ones who need to be taught._

"Okay listen up. Ino, Sakura, Yakumo and Naruto you four will be going with Mizuki-sensei for Taijutsu lessons, while I take the rest of class out for Taijutsu spars to evaluate how far each of you are." said Iruka.

* * *

 **Naruto**

 **Academy Training field**

"Okay, so this is how we are going to do this. I'll take the girls aside and show them how to punch and kick and few basic stances, and then I'm coming back to show Naruto." said Mizuki-sensei.

"Why are you separating us?" asked Ino.

"Because boys and girls have different bodies, and it translates into how you learn Taijutsu." said Mizuki. "This way I can show you all together as girls, instead of having to confuse you when I explain to Naruto how to train Taijutsu that his more suited to himself."

Mizuki disappeared with the girls to teach them Taijutsu. Naruto waited patiently for Mizuki to return, it was about an hour before the man returned.

"Sorry for the wait, but it took a while for me to get the basics through to them. Hopefully you will be a little faster, eh Naruto-kun?" said Mizuki consiprationally towards the end.

"Hai sensei." Naruto nodded.

"Now show me how you make a fist." said Mizuki.

Naruto straitened his hand and then curled it inward while his thumb was held tightly against his index and middle finger.

"No, No that's all wrong." Mizuki tutted in disappointment. "Looks like this is going to be a long day. Okay you need to tuck your thumb into your fist."

"Why Mizuki sensei?" asked Naruto.

"To protect it from finger holds and weaponry." answered Mizuki.

Naruto followed his advice, his chunin-sensei's haven't led him astray, why would now be any different. "Yes! That it now you getting it."

Naruto shrugged, he had no idea that it would be that easy. "Okay, now I want to you to go punch that post over there."

Naruto walked forward and snapped his arm forward while twisting at the hip moving his body weight behind the punch. "Ahhh!" Naruto cried out in pain.

"Uhh, that can sometimes happen, it takes a little getting used to but I'm sure with a little practise you wont even notice the pain." Mizuki smiled apologetically. "Unfortunately, that punch was all wrong, when you punch you need to to overextend your arm if you want any really power to your punches. You also need to transfer all your weight on to your leading leg in such a way that when you land a punch you end up one leg."

Naruto complied with his teachers instructions, grunting with pain as his fist made contact with the wooden post, he then proceeded to fall over after loosing his balance.

"That it, you only need to practise your balance and you will be fine." Mizuki smiled kindly. "Now lets work on your kicks."

Naruto grunted while holding his throbbing thumb. _I'm lucky that it isn't broken._ Naruto internally grumbled.

"Now for your kick you will want to swing your leg around. Keep the both of knees locked while you do it. I also want you to turn the ankle of your dominant or non-dominant leg, it depends on which you're not kicking with. So if you kick with your right, twist the left ankle ninety degrees left. If you kick with your left leg, twist your right foot ninety degrees right. Do you understand?"

Naruto followed his teachers orders. He swung his right foot forward - knees locked - while twisting his left ankle ninety degrees left, this caused him to stumble slightly forward. _This is so uncomfortable._ Naruto grumbled internally.

"Good, now there is only your stance left." said Mizuki. "Its really simple, just stand slightly straight." Naruto followed his order. "Yes that it, now lock your knees, place your non-dominant leg in the back and hold your arms slightly in front of your face."Naruto complied. "That's it. Okay that's all for today Naruto-kun. You only need to practise what I've shown you and I'm sure you will go far." Mizuki smiled, internally it was much more sinister. _Go into a far grave maybe._

* * *

 **AN: so my story will have no Yaoi or slash or yuri. Im not homophobic, I just don't see myself writing those types of stories. Pairings? I don't know. More than likely it wont be Naruto/Hinata or any of the Konoha girls for that matter, I'm not sure. Ill try not to bash if possible, but these things can subconsciously happen. Mito and Menma? Well Mito was going to be called Mirajane, but I decided against it. Menma? Well Kushina is ramen obsessed.**

 **Minato and Kushina alive? Well obviously I cant tell you how or why.**

 **Story will start picking up soon, I just needed some development early on, trust me I would rather get to the Jutsu and fighting and all that. Also please don't tell me I don't know how a punch works or a kick or general stance for that matter. I do.**

 **Also thanks to those that have either followed, Favourite or even viewed my story.**


	3. Chapter 3

**The inheritor of the Rikudou Sennin's will**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the associated characters. Kishimoto-sama owns this amazing work of art.**

 **Chapter 3: A new sensei**

* * *

 **Academy year one examination**

Naruto had finished all his examinations besides History, Taijutsu and Shurikenjutsu. Iruka-sensei had just placed his exam paper on his desk.

"You may begin." instructed Iruka-sensei.

Naruto turned over his history exam paper, and poured over the questions.

 _Which were the major warring clans during the period of warring states?_ The Uchiha, Hagoromo, Senju, Hyuga and a number of clans that formed as the ally clan to these major clans.

 _Which are found clans of Konohagakure no Sato?_ The senju and Uchiha clans.

 _Which clans are known as the first eight of Konohagakure no Sato?_ Akimichi, Yamanaka, Nara, Inuzuka, Uzumaki, Kurama, Aburame and Hyuga clan.

 _Name the Hokage of Konoha in chronological order._ Hashirama Senju, Tobriama Senju, Hiruzen Sarutobi and Minato Namikaze.

The questions continued in that fashion for the rest of the paper, mostly dealing with Konoha and how it was formed. Naruto found most of the questions to be unbearably easy, dates weren't even asked, it was way to simple, then again it was only their first year. It was bound to get more difficult as they progressed through the academy.

 _Or maybe not._

Naruto turned his attention to Menma, Mito, Kiba and to a lesser degree Sasuke who were scratching their heads in frustration. Obviously they were trying to desperately extract the answers from their head. It didn't seem to be working. _Imagine that!_

Soon enough their test papers were taken by their sensei's. _Alright! We have Taijutsu and Shurikenjutsu next! I cant wait to show off my Taijutsu, not so much my Shurikenjutsu._ Naruto thought internally.

"In five minutes we will continue our exam on the academy training grounds." said Iruka. "We will be starting with Shurikenjutsu."

The class quickly up to stretch their legs, however they were slightly jelly-legged from the numerous hours of sitting in chairs. _Finally, those chairs were so uncomfortable!_

The class soon made their way to the accuracy zone. Each of them taking their turns in alphabetical order. Most of the students until Naruto got his chance did fairly above average.

Naruto stepped up for his turn. "Okay Naruto, we will start with kunai. You need to get a score out of five for the kunai throwing and a score out of ten for the Shuriken throwing."

Naruto nodded, before he accepting a set of kunai from Mizuki-sensei. He threw the kunai like one may throw a javelin or spear. Needless to say only two were on target and of those two only one of them were lodged into the target.

Iruka simply jotted it down on his clipboard before he said. "Okay, now its Shuriken throwing. Try your best."

Naruto threw each Shuriken, in the same manner one may throw a ball. He was on target, surprisingly. Unfortunately none of his Shuriken were lodged in the target.

"Haha! What a loser!" howled Kiba.

"Yeah he sucks!" said Menma.

"Hahahaha that was terrible." remarked Mito.

Most of the class had the same ideas. Some of them voiced their opinions vocally, and others kept it to themselves.

Naruto silently cursed. Why was he this bad? When he practised the kunai and Shuriken throwing he at least got some on target. He even managed to make is weapons stay in the target.

Naruto took his place among those that had already thrown their Shuriken and kunai. He ignored the mocking looks and grins that were aimed at him. He paid attention to the students that were best at Shurikenjutsu.

Namely Menma, Kiba and Sasuke. He noticed how they gripped the kunai and Shuriken differently from himself, he also took notice of how they threw the weapons differently from him. Something was amiss here, but what?

Sasuke was the best in the class when it came to Shurikenjutsu, next came Menma who only lost to him by a point in the Shuriken throwing section. Kiba lost to the two by only scoring seven Shuriken and four kunai.

Kiba grinned at Naruto cockily. "That's how its done deadlast!"

Naruto scowled.

"Do not take what he says to heart. He was born in a clan, you however did not have anyone to guide you." said Shino stoically. Although Naruto got the idea that he was trying to be reassuring.

"Thanks Shino." Naruto smiled lightly. "I needed that."

"Well done everyone!" Iruka-sensei smiled. "We will have a short break, and then we will start the Taijutsu exam."

* * *

 **Taijutsu Training field**

"The first match will be Naruto Konoha versus Kiba Inuzuka." said Iruka.

"Alright I'm going to grind him into the dirt." Kiba grinned almost turned feral.

Naruto walked into the sparing circle. "Okay, make the seal of reconciliation."

Naruto made a half-tiger hand seal and Kiba did the same, they bound their index and middle fingers together almost like a handshake before they released one another's hands.

Iruka jumped backwards. "Hajime!"

Naruto charged at Kiba, throwing a powerful punch aimed for his head. As he brought his arm forward he transferred all his weight onto his front leg and transferred all his energy behind his punch.

Kiba moved to the side, easily avoiding the clumsy attack. He sent a kick into the leg that Naruto was balancing on. This resulted in Naruto loosing his balance and falling roughly, face first, to the floor.

Kiba stepped on to Naruto back. "You're such a loser!" he grinned cockily. "I told you I would grind you to the floor."

"Winner: Kiba Inuzuka!" exclaimed Iruka."Okay Kiba that's enough."

Kiba moved his foot off of Naruto's back. The young red head pushed off of the ground. He dusted the front of his pants, and shirt off before turning towards Iruka.

"Now the seal of reconciliation, to show that you mean no I'll will to your sparing partner."said Iruka.

Naruto made the hand seal, as did Kiba, while he grinned mockingly to Naruto.

"Tch, what a loser." said Sasuke.

"Yeah, he is the weakest in class, he is probably lazy too." said Menma scornfully.

"He sucks!" said Mito.

"Yeah!" said Ino and Sakura simultaneously.

Iruka cleared his throat. "The next fight will be Mito Uzumaki-Namikaze versus Shikamaru Nara."

"I forfeit." Shikamaru shrugged before laying down on the grass and making a note on his clipboard.

"What that's totally unfair!" said Mito.

"Don't worry Mito I will evaluate your Taijutsu after everyone has finished their own spars. Shikamaru you will get a zero, is that understood?" said Iruka sternly towards the end.

"Troublesome. . ." sighed Shikamaru.

"I'll show you troublesome!" Mito angrily shook her fist at him.

"Okay that's enough." said Iruka. "the next match is between Choji Akimichi and Sasuke Uchiha."

The two clan heirs stood opposite one another. They initiated the seal of confrontation. The Akimichi boy took the academy stance, while the Uchiha took a slightly different stance.

"Iruka-sensei, do I have to hit him? I don't want to hurt him." said Choji.

"Don't think of me as weak!" said Sasuke as he charged at the Akimichi.

Choji was too slow to dodge the rapid fire punches to his stomach, compliments of Sasuke. Fortunately the fat gave him some protection. However Sasuke wasn't finished, he jumped and sent a kick into the robust boys chin knocking him back, before he continued to sweep his legs.

Sasuke finished the fight by placing his right leg on the groaning Akimichi's chest. "You're the weak one, not me."

"Winner: Sasuke Uchiha!" said Iruka-sensei."Okay boys, now the seal of reconciliation."

Sasuke took his foot off from Choji, allowing him to push himself upright. They made the seal before they departed to different sections of the training area.

"Right, right. The next spar will be Sakura Haruno versus Yakumo Kurama." said Iruka-sensei.

The two girls walked up to the sparing zone, already with their hands in the seal of confrontation. "Good sparing etiquette girls." Iruka complimented.

They nodded, somewhat nervously, before they intertwined their fingers. They separated and Iruka jumped back. "Hajime!"

They stared at one another, waiting for the other to make a move, to make a mistake, to gain some inkling of the others intentions. It seemed that Sakura was brasher of the two.

She ran at Yakumo, her fist cocked back, looking for a quick knock-out.

Yakumo didn't feel like co-operating, she ducked under the punch and moved to the side, allowing Sakura to sail over her from all the power she had put in that punch. She wasn't about to let that opportunity go to waste. She kicked Sakura behind the knee, combined with the momentum she gained from the charge and the consequent punch that followed after, it sent Sakura tumbling to the ground, where Yakumo stood over her as the victor.

"Winner: Yakumo Kurama!"shouted Iruka, visibly impressed.

The kurama heir helped the pink haired girl up. "No hard feelings? Right?"

"No," Sakura said as she dusted herself off. "But next time I'll beat you."

The shared a smile before making the seal of reconciliation. "You could learn from those two, they didn't treat this as a fight, but as a spar with a fellow shinobi - or rather a fellow shinobi in-training." remarked Iruka.

The two girls blushed in embarrassment before leaving the field.

"Now, the second last spar of today, it will be between Menma Uzumaki-Namikaze and Shino Aburame." said Iruka-sensei.

Naruto paid a lot of attention to this fight. His friend Shino would be fighting, how could he not? Not to mention that, as he watched everyone fight, they fought much differently from him, he noticed how they didn't tuck in their thumbs inside their fists, how their knees did not lock whatsoever, and they did not punch in the same way he did, something was fishy here.

Shino and Menma stepped up to the sparring zone, each of them forming the seal of confrontation, they intertwined their fingers before stepping away from one another.

"Hajime!" shouted Iruka.

Shino stood still, while he assessed his opponent. His limbs tensing, like a snake coiled and ready to strike. His opponent on the other hand was tensing just the same, except the tensing on his side was caused by an abundance of energy, just waiting to be released.

He released it alright.

Menma dashed forward at mid-academy speeds, Shino managed to dodge the punch that was thrown at him, but only just. He was not, however able to dodge the roundhouse kick to to his stomach.

Shino gasped in pain, as he fell backwards, and rolled trying to diffuse as much of the force as he could. Menma was not having any of that though, he moved to capitalise on Shino, as soon as Shino completed his back roll, the blonde sent a snap-kick into the Aburame's face, sending him reeling back on to the floor, and grunting in pain.

"Winner: Menma Uzumaki-Namikaze!" shouted Iruka.

Menma scoffed at Shino before he walked away from him, not even bothering to form the seal of reconciliation.

"Menma-san! The seal."said Iruka sternly.

"Why? Why should I? That seal is for equals." said Menma, a scowl present on his face.

"So? You think only equals deserve respect? You think that only equals share their knowledge with one another?" asked Iruka, unblinkingly.

"Yes." said Menma.

"Then get out of my class. If you truly believe what you have just said, then I cant teach you. You are not my equal. In fact I could beat you blindfolded, with both my hands tied behind my back." said Iruka, his eyes blazing with furry.

"But I am the son of the Hokage!" said Menma indignantly.

"While that may mean something politically, it means nothing in battle. And since you refuse to show Shino respect simply because he was not able to keep up with you, you will not be taught by me. Now get off the academy grounds. That is an order by chunin: Iruka Umino." said Iruka.

Menma stormed off with a scowl.

Naruto was visibly impressed. His opinion of Iruka went up considerably by that action. Iruka Umino seemed to be a highly professional man, that wouldn't pander to children, just because they are related to someone important.

Iruka cleared his throat. "Now for our last spar, Hinata Hyuga versus Ino Yamanaka."

The two girls stepped forward, they intertwined their middle and index fingers, forming the seal of confrontation. They stepped away from one other and waited for Iruka-sensei to start the fight.

"I'm going to win Hinata-chan!" said Ino.

"Uh-uh." she stuttered.

"Now this is a Taijutsu spar only. Absolutely no use of chakra, especially the jyuuken Hinata." said Iruka.

"H-hai."she replied.

"Then Hajime!"

Ino taking advantage of her opponents lack of confidence, Ino rushed at her, using the academy style Taijutsu, she managed to close most of the opening in her guard, avoiding any significant damage if Hinata somehow grew a backbone and attacked her faster than Ino was able to attack or defend.

Ino came in with a swift jab to the chin, Hinata managed to parry the blow with her open palm. Ino wasn't perturbed by this, she sent a wild right hook at Hinata. The girl managed to duck slightly under punch, it slightly caught the top of her head.

She cringed slightly at the pain, but managed to push through it and dove forward and rolled, before spinning around to face Ino's unprotected back.

As Hinata spun around she got a face full off the young Yamanaka's sandals to the face, it sent her reeling to the floor, before Ino advanced on her, her sandal positioned slightly above her face.

"Winner: Ino Yamanaka!" Iruka yelled.

Ino smirked confidently before she extended her hand to the Hyuga heiress. "Told ya I would beat you."

Hinata hesitantly took the girls hand, and pulled herself up. Hinata had a red mark across her face in the shape of a sandal. "The seal of reconciliation."

Hinata and Ino intertwined their fingers once more, before they left the sparing zone.

"Well done everyone. Come back to the academy tomorrow for your report cards." Iruka-sensei smiled at the gathered students.

The class was about to chorus their goodbyes to their kind chunin instructor, when an Anbu body flickered into the area. The Anbu had silver hair, a face mask that resembled a dog and he wore the traditional Anbu attire.

"Chunin: Iruka Umino?" the Anbu inquired.

"Hai." replied Iruka.

"Hokage-sama wishes to see you." he said flatly.

"Hai." replied Iruka before forming a tiger hand seal and departing in a swirl of leaves.

* * *

 **Hokages office**

"Hokage-sama." Iruka bowed.

"Iruka, care to tell me why you kicked by son out of class." asked the Hokage coldly.

"He didn't show me, nor his fellow students respect." said Iruka.

"Explain."

"Menma-san spared with Shino Aburame. Shino lost the fight and Menma walked away, I reminded him of the seal of reconciliation and he stated that the seal is only used amongst equals. So I asked him if he believes that only equals show respect, and only equals share their knowledge amongst themselves. He replied yes, and I told him to get out of my class because he is not my equal, and by his standards I am not his equal and thus not obligated to share my knowledge with him." explained Iruka, internally he was extremely nervous.

"Menma, go home and get straight to your room." said Minato coldly.

"B-but Tousan!"

"Now." he said while focussing his cold blue eyes on the boy.

"H-hai." Menma replied.

When Menma left, Minato addressed Iruka. "Thank you."

"Hokage-sama?"

"Menma has a severe case of entitlement. He doesn't like lazy or weak people, so if Aburame-san had put up more of a fight than he did, even if the boy lost he would of earned Menma's respect. Its because he is used to being around such powerful people. Myself, his mother, and so on. Because of this he believes that only the strong matter, while the weak should remain where they are. Below the strong." said Minato.

"But wouldn't me doing what I did reaffirm his belief that the strong command the weak?" asked Iruka.

"There was nothing else you could do. If you allowed him to continue, his case of entitlement would of gotten worse. So, now you only have his belief in the strong and weak to deal with." replied Minato.

"Which means because of his own belief in the strong and the weak would force him to obey me, in such instance such as showing respect to his fellow shinobi, if I work on it, even if I cant break of that mindset, I will still be able to teach him to respect his fellow students and shinobi."said Iruka, catching on to what Minato was trying to say.

"Precisely," smiled the Hokage. "You know when Sandaime-sama recommended you, I was slightly sceptical because of your reputation of a prankster in your youth. It was unfounded, you are an exceptional teacher."

Iruka blushed in embarrassment, while he scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Thank you, Hokage-sama."

* * *

 **Three days later**

Naruto looked over his report once more, all of his theory work was borderline a-rank, however his Taijutsu and Shurikenjutsu was lower than e-rank, he couldn't believe that he would have to show his progress report to to Saru-sama. He is going to be so disappointed.

Naruto sighed as he left his apartment, Amaterasu ridding on his head. The red head soon arrived at the Sarutobi clan heads house, he nervously entered the house.

He walked into the clan heads study.

"Ah, Naruto-kun." said Saru-sama. "Why do you look so nervous? Is it your progress report?"

Naruto nervously gulped, before handing the report to the elder. He searched through report thoroughly impressed by the boys marks. Until he got to the physical portion, that is. "Below e-rank for Taijutsu and Shurikenjutsu?"

"Yes." Naruto looked down.

"Show me."

"Saru-sama?" asked Naruto.

"I've never in all my years seen or heard of anyone in your condition get below an e-rank for Taijutsu and Shurikenjutsu. I want you to show me." said Saru-sama

* * *

 **Ten minutes later**

 **Sarutobi training grounds**

Naruto did indeed show Saru-sama his weapon throwing and fighting skills. He was not impressed, not at all,

"Who taught you how to fight?" asked Hiruzen.

"Mizuki-sensei."

"And what? You chose to completely disregard his instruction." asked the elder.

"What do you mean? I'm fighting exactly as he taught me." said Naruto in confusion.

"You cannot mean to tell me this is all his instruction." Sarutobi refuted.

"Well that's how he taught me. Always tuck in your thumb into your fist and keep your knees locked." said Naruto.

The elder blinked before his nostrils flared angrily. Naruto actually started fearing for his continued existence. "I see. Well not to worry I will get you someone to teach you proper Taijutsu and Shurikenjutsu."

"Are you saying Mizuki-sensei didn't teach me properly? On purpose?" asked Naruto.

"That's exactly what I'm saying."

"Saru-sama, why is it, that almost everyone in this village hates me?" asked Naruto.

Sarutobi sighed. "If I could tell you, I would."

Naruto nodded sadly.

"Come back here on Monday, I'll have a teacher here for you." said Saru-sama.

"What? Really?" asked Naruto enthusiastically.

"Yes, so don't be late." smiled Saru-sama.

* * *

 **Three days later**

Naruto studied the man in front of him. He had a dark bandanna with a metal plate pinned to the material. The plate had the Konoha symbol carved into it. He also wore a pair of dark, round shades. He had a long sleeved turtle-neck shirt, with a red spiral on each shoulder. His pants were dark, and slightly above ankle-length. From there his legs were bandaged until the ankle. He wore a pair of dark shinobi sandals.

"Naruto-kun, this is Ebisu, he will be your tutor for the next month and over weekends." said Saru-sama.

"What exactly will Ebisu-san be teaching me? Because I'm pretty sure that Iruka-sensei is teaching me properly, its only Mizuki that taught me badly." said Naruto.

"the nerve of that man, absolutely unprofessional." Ebisu sniffed disdainfully. "Not to worry Uzumaki-san, I will be teaching you Taijutsu and Shurikenjutsu until you are proficient in the arts."

"And after?"

"When you unlock your chakra and learn the basic academy techniques, I will assist you in mastering them, as well as teaching you how to use them in battle." Ebisu pushed his glasses up. "Not to worry Uzumaki-san, you will have a through grounding in the basics."

"Ebisu-kun will also be evaluating and teaching you trap making and detecting, stealth, intelligence gathering, tracking, Genjutsu creating, detecting and dispelling. He may even touch on chakra control." said Saru-sama.

"I-I-I don't know what to say. . .this must be costing you a lot of money, Ebisu-san is obviously a specialist when it come to this sort of thing." Naruto said, his eyes sparkling with emotion.

"Think of it as me making amends for all the pain that the village has put you through." said Hiruzen.

"I don't even know how I would pay you back." said Naruto.

"You can pay me back by learning all can from Ebisu. You can pay me back by trying your best and not giving up, no matter what. You can pay me back by becoming the best ninja in the village."Hiruzen said with finality.

"Before I take you as my student, I wish to know your goals. I should advise you, that it is my hope to train a Hokage." said Ebisu.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you. I have no dreams of becoming a Hokage, maybe a member of Anbu, or just a figure like Jiraiya or Orochimaru-sama - before he went off the deep-end." said Naruto.

"I suppose its good enough, I'll just have to accept honourable grandson becoming Hokage under my tutelage. Still, Jiraiya-sama is a respectable enough ninja, I suppose it is acceptable to train a shinobi that can compete with a man of his skills."

"Thank you Ebisu-san." said Naruto.

"from now on, you will call me Ebisu-sensei." said Ebisu.

"Hai, Ebisu-sensei." Naruto smiled.

"Ebisu how is your fuinjutsu?" asked Hiruzen.

"I have almost completed level five. Sandaime-sama." replied Ebisu, pride evident in his voice.

"Impressive, will you teach Naruto?" asked Hiruzen.

"I'll teach him everything I can. All the basics of the ninja arts I know, then we will build on everything I have taught him until he graduates, by then he should have low-chunin skills as a minimum goal." said Ebisu, planing out Naruto training within moments.

"When do we start sensei?" asked Naruto.

"We will begin tomorrow. Sandaime-sama has informed me that your theoretical work is no concern, so we will sped the rest of this month on your Taijutsu and Shurikenjutsu. You will also continue practising what I teach you after training our sessions - only if you have free time."

Naruto bowed. "Hai sensei."

* * *

Over Naruto's Academy holiday, he and trained his Taijutsu and Shurikenjutsu non-stop. When he was with Ebisu, the jonin specialist would run him through his Taijutsu, reviewing what he has already taught him, fixing the slight mistakes that he made, as well as teaching him a new kata.

When the lessons finished he would practise everything that Ebisu taught him, over and over again. His only company would be Amaterasu. The same held true for Naruto's Shurikenjutsu.

Unfortunately, Naruto only had about a week of actual introduction into the academy Taijutsu kata - which was actually the old academy Taijutsu, to be specific it was the academy Taijutsu taught between the second and third shinobi word war - because he had to spend the most part of his holiday correcting his punching and kicking, it took a while, but now Naruto could say that he was good enough to at the very least, last in a fight against Kiba, and that was without an sort of Taijutsu form, merely his adept - for his age - reflexes.

When they had actually began studying the new Taijutsu, Naruto had asked Ebisu why they were using the old academy style.

* * *

"Ebisu-sensei, why are we using the old academy style? I know that you are allowed to use whatever Taijutsu style you want to use, but surely the new academy style is an improved version of the old one." said Naruto

"That is usually the cases, especially when you apply it to civilian matters. But not with ninja, samurai or soldiers in general. You see, this specific Taijutsu style was taught between break of one shinobi war, and the verge of another, because of this many students graduated early, were pushed to the extreme and were significantly stronger than those today. The old academy style is not taught today because the leaders do not see the reason for children to not live their lives as what they are. Children." said Ebisu.

Naruto nodded in understanding. _That means that this Taijutsu style, even though it is an academy one, it is vastly superior to the new one, because it was engineered for war._ "How effective is the Taijutsu style? And what is it called?"

"This particular Taijutsu style is called the will of the tree-leaf, others merely choose a shortened name, Konoha-ken. This Taijutsu style is actually a slightly diluted style of the traditional senju style Taijutsu. It has various different aspects, and when you master the academy style, there is genin, chunin and jonin techniques that you build on to your academy foundation. If you are able to reach that point, if you personally specialise in Genjutsu, bukijutsu, kenjutsu or Ninjutsu; you will be considered a Taijutsu master, along with your primary area of the ninja arts that you have mastered already." explained Ebisu. "In fact a fellow student from my year and his father, went on to use the Konoha-ken to create a new Taijutsu style, that student went on to become one of the greatest jonin in Konoha, as well as a Taijutsu specialist."

Naruto's mouth made a perfect "O" shape. "That's amazing, I cant wait to learn this Taijutsu."

"Well the if you have no more questions, then we will begin." said Ebisu.

"I do have one more." said Naruto, Ebisu motioned for him to continue. "Could you train me in everything using your own academy course?"

"How do you know my academy course has anything to do with the Konoha-ken?" asked Ebisu.

"Because of your age, and the you did say that students from those days graduated earlier, which means you were part of the third shinobi war, that means that you were trained in the Konoha-ken. Plus you also said that your _fellow_ student and his father used the Konoha-ken to create a new Taijutsu style." said Naruto.

"Very good." Ebisu nodded. "Yes in those days we taught more Ninjutsu than the basic academy three, we were given a grounding in kenjutsu, we were even taught a few basic Genjutsu."

"What Ninjutsu were you taught?" asked Naruto.

"Well I wont go into the specific Ninjutsu, but we were taught ten elemental Ninjutsu. Five e-ranks and five d-ranks. Along with that we were taught basic shinobi Jutsu, such as the academy three, as well as the rope escape among others." said Ebisu. "and just to fill you in on the Genjutsu, so that we don't get sidetracked any further, you will be taught two e-rank and one d-rank."

Naruto nodded at his sensei. "Now that you are finally able to punch and kick the correct way, its time to begin your real training. Now take a loose stance, and I'll adjust your body, any time you feel uncomfortable, tell me and we will adjust your stance from there."

* * *

 **Day before the beginning of Naruto's second year.**

Naruto tiredly wiped the glistening sweat off his brow. His red hair sticking to his forehead as if he had just come out of the rain. He had just finished a particularly difficult training session with Ebisu. It consisted of stretching, Physical exercise that consisted of : push-ups, pull-ups, squats, crunches and laps around the training field. Thereafter he was pushed through his last kata and shown a new one, he then spent the rest of the training session going through these kata, while Ebisu corrected his form.

However a question still plagued his mind."Sensei, why are you teaching me both the hard and soft styles."

"Well the Konoha-ken as it is broadly recognised has two branches -no pun intended - and they are the hard and soft styles, usually a student will choose one path, not both, however I feel that since your dream is to become an s-rank shinobi, I will teach you both branches. We may even create a new Taijutsu style."

"If you use only the soft style what is it called?"

"Its merely called Konoha-ken soft-style. However if you are inquiring its true name, it is the yielding stem, and the hard style is called the indomitable trunk. However when taught to academy students it is simply called Konoha-ken." said Ebisu.

"Why though?"

"Because if we differentiated the names of the style, and we confirmed that they are linked, it would of caused our enemies to not see it as a simple academy style, but a vastly powerful that could be joined - as you are attempting to do - and they would study the style whenever they could, this would give our enemies a new Taijutsu style that could be devastating to our village."

"But if I use it will other villages not learn the style?" asked Naruto.

"No, because by the time you leave the village for missions you would be able to switch and join the two Taijutsu styles as if they were one, by then it would be too complexed, additionally enemy ninja or spies are not likely to pay attention to a genin in any case." said Ebisu.

* * *

Luckily Naruto would have at the very least, six months before his next Taijutsu spar, and by then he would have satisfactory proficiency in his Taijutsu style, even at a academy level it would make him a formidable ninja.

Naruto overlooked his course aims for the year, they would be covering chakra awakening, Trap making, strategy and they would be studying the life of ninja in a more in-depth fashion.

The new subjects aside they would be learning new material from the subjects that they had already learned in the first year, especially how they would be able to apply it to their role as a shinobi.

Naruto on the other hand couldn't wait for his third and forth years, he was sure by then he would be learning Ninjutsu, and if he was lucky, he might be able to convince Ebisu-sensei to teach him something chakra related before he learned the Ninjutsu in the academy. He would just have to convince Ebisu that teaching him earlier will help him on his way to becoming an s-rank ninja. The downside was that Ebisu-sensei loved the basics, he practically lived for them. Logically Naruto knew that the basics are what would make him great, a small part of him still wanted to learn awesome Ninjutsu.

* * *

 **Six months later**

In six month Naruto had come far from his first year as far as his Taijutsu and Shurikenjutsu were concerned. He only knew four kata, two from the hard and soft styles. And he had only began his attempts at binding the two styles together as one, which would likely take him from now until he graduates, and that was only the academy area of the Taijutsu style.

His Shurikenjutsu was much better than before, he couldn't get any worse off than he was. He could now safely say that all his thrown weapons were on-target. However, they were not bulls-eye's nor anywhere close to the inner-circles of the target, but had only been at it for six months, then take away time spent at the academy, as well as time spent on improving his Taijutsu, it really was incredible, even if it seemed mostly unremarkable to an outsiders point of view.

Currently Naruto was paying close attention to Iruka, he who was currently lecturing the class on the attack that took place almost nine years ago. The attack of the Kyuubi no Kitsune.

"The thing you all have to understand about the Kyuubi no kitsune is that it posses a great amount of killing intent, to chakra sensors it was like a mass of darkness."said Iruka.

"Killing intent? Why would that matter?" asked Kiba, he had a small puppy on his head, he no longer deemed the rabbit important.

"Who here has heard of killing intent?" asked Iruka.

Choji raised his hand. "My dad said that back in his genin days his sensei at the time fought another jonin and the killing intent was enough to freeze him. He said that one of his team mates almost killed themselves because of it."

"Now do you see the importance of it? If a mere jonin could do that, can you imagine what the effect of the Kyuubi's killing intent would have? And that's only passive, if the Kyuubi actually focussed all of its killing intent on one ninja, or even a group, the best case scenario would be those ninja would fall to a coma, in fact there was quite the number of shinobi that had fallen victim to a coma, and in some cases a stroke."explained Iruka gravely.

"It cant be that powerful!" exclaimed Kiba fearfully.

"It was. The Kyuubi stood the same size - if not bigger - as the Hokage monument. Even before the Kyuubi attacked Konoha, there were legends of its power."

"Like what?" asked Sasuke curiously.

"There were ones that said that he could bring forth tsunamis with a swing of his tails, cause continental rift, and breath out massive fire-storms from his mouth that were hot enough to create great thunderstorms from the ambivalent heat it displaced." said Iruka. "That was not even the worst part, the Kyuubi cannot be killed. It is impossible for the great demon to truly die."

"What do you mean? I thought the Yondaime killed it!" exclaimed Kiba.

"No, the Kyuubi was too powerful, even for great shinobi like Minato and Kushina-sama. Even if the Kyuubi were somehow killed, it is a being completely composed of chakra, and thus can not die, it may take months, years, decades or centuries, but the Kyuubi would reform once more."said Iruka.

"Then how?" asked Naruto, in morbid fascination.

"It was sealed." said Iruka.

"Sealed?" asked Kiba.

"Indeed." said Iruka while he took out a scroll and kunai and showed it off to the class. "These strange symbols you see on the scroll, is what we call a sealing formula. This will be taught next year. This is called fuinjutsu, it allows you to seal any object into whatever the sealing formula is inscribed on. Fuinjutsu has many nuances that I cannot begin to explain nor understand, however with this power the Kyuubi was defeated." Iruka placed the kunai in the ring in the middle of the scroll, and placed his fingers on the corner of the scroll. "Fuin" he intoned and there was a puff of vapour.

When the vapour cleared there was no longer a kunai on the scroll.

"Woah! Where did it go?" asked Kiba in awe.

"It is inside the scroll. Isn't it?" asked Ino.

"Yes and no, it is really inside the formula, which is a pocket dimension created by my chakra and the sealing formula." he noticed that it went way over their heads. "But essentially that is the gist of it."

"So, we substitute the Kunai with Kyuubi?" asked Shino.

"Correct." Iruka nodded.

"It cannot be that easy. To merely seal the Kyuubi within a scroll."

"Again you are right. The Kyuubi was not sealed in a scroll, but into a human infant." said Iruka.

The class was stunned into complete silence. None more so than Naruto, except his mind was buzzing with conclusion that he did not like one bit.

"Who was it sealed in? This person must be among our age group?" asked Sasuke.

"Unfortunately that is an s-rank secret." replied Iruka.

* * *

 **Sarutobi estate**

 **Two hours later**

"The Kyuubi is sealed in me, isn't it?" asked Naruto.

Saru-sama promptly spat at his tea. "What?!"

Naruto would of smirked if the situation was a different one. "So it is."

"How? How did you come to that conclusion?"

"The villagers are always going on about me being a demon, nine tailed brat and so on. Iruka-sensei just lectured us on the Kyuubi attack nine years ago. He told us that it was sealed into an infant, and that's how the Yondaime defeated the Kyuubi, he didn't understand the mechanics of how it was done, all he knew was that there was no other means of defeating the Kyuubi." said Naruto.

Hiruzen was at an utter loss on what to say to the boy. He knew that the boy was very intelligent for his age, his vocabulary was his first indicator. However, for him to decipher that he is the Kyuubi jinchuriki was absolutely startling. So he went with the best approach he knew. "Listen Naruto, even though the Kyuubi was sealed in you, you are not the Kyuubi, I cannot stress this fact enough."

"Oh I know." was Naruto simple reply.

"Excuse me?"asked Hiruzen, his eyebrows raised as high his hairline.

"Iruka-sensei explained sealing basics to us. He sealed a kunai into the sealing formula that was drawn on a scroll. So using that same logic, I am the scroll, somewhere on me there is a sealing formula, and inside the sealing formula is the Kyuubi. None of these three really change the other. When the sealing formula is drawn on to the scroll, the scroll is still a scroll, when the Kyuubi is sealed into the sealing formula, the sealing formula is still sealing formula, it doesn't really change anything."

"I thought that you may of thought of yourself as the Kyuubi because of the villagers outright telling you that you were." said Hiruzen. "However I must say that Iruka-kun is a very capable teacher if he showed you that sealing demonstration, he protected you from a lot of stigma from your peers if they ever found out about your jinchuriki status."

"Jinchuriki?" asked Naruto.

"The Jinchuriki is the coined term for those with a tailed beast or demon sealed within them. It means the power of the human sacrifice. These individuals usually become weapons for their village. It was actually Shodaime-sama that led to weaponization of tailed beasts." said Hiruzen.

"That means that these jinchuriki are able to use their tailed beasts power?" asked Naruto.

"Theoretically yes, however it all depends on the seal, as well as the skill of the sealer."said Hiruzen.

Naruto was silent for a moment before he asked Hiruzen something that had been bothering him since his history lesson. "Iruka-sensei said that the identity of jinchuriki is a s-rank secret, how did non-ninja find out that I am the jinchuriki?"

Hiruzen sighed tiredly. "Minato-kun issued a statement too the villages after the sealing."

"So he told them all of them that I was a jinchuriki and then following that he made it an s-rank secret?" asked Naruto incredulously.

Hiruzen shrugged. "I do not pretend to understand his motivations."

"And he told the village at large? Did he not think that there would be spies in the village? Especially after the Kyuubi attack? They obviously wrote home about my status, that means that at the very least the five great hidden villages. That means that they might kidnap me or kill me because that would mean that Konoha would no longer have a weapon." said Naruto, his temperament matching his hair.

Hiruzen sighed wearily. He resented the fact that his son told Naruto about all the different missions that he had been on. Naruto had become somewhat cynical as result. He sighed once more, cynical or not, it didn't make it any less true.

"I'm going to have to step up my training, it wouldn't do for me to die before I become a s-rank ninja."

Then again that cynicism led to this particular bout of optimism. So it wasn't all bad.

* * *

 **(Six months later - Naruto and Ebisu)**

"Sensei, why do I have to stick the leaf to my forehead?" asked Naruto. "Its not like I can use it in a fight or any other time."

Ebisu decided to tell him why, instead of telling him to just do it. If he knew there was a good reason for it then he would be much more agreeable. "You unlocked your chakra a couple of months ago?"

"Yes, sensei, so the leaf exercise has something to do with that."said Naruto.

"Correct."Ebisu smirked. He liked the fact that Naruto didn't question the connection between the two. If Ebisu brought it up, then there was an obvious connection, and he didn't question the validity of it, he only wanted to know why certain things were done. A direct by-product of his experience with Mizuki. It wasn't bad per se, it just that certain teachers wanted their students to figure things out for themselves. "The reason for this is that after awakening your chakra, it is in its raw form after you open it, this is the case with all chakra carriers. Some grow to become excellent at controlling their chakra, whether it is a result of genetics or chakra capacity is a mute point. The fact is that the earlier you begin with chakra control and the more diligent you are, none of these factors can prohibit your progress as ninja. The current academy body is of the opinion that students need time to let their chakra calm down after the awakening, which is why they only teach you the leaf control exercise halfway into your third year, and the beginning of your Ninjutsu training sometime between the beginning and midway through your forth year."

"You obviously disagree, and you think its perfectly safe to start with the leaf control exercise even earlier, it is better even." said Naruto.

"Right. The reason the leaf exercise was created in the first place was not because of the symbolism it shares with the Konoha headbands. No, it was an exercise created by Nidaime-sama that allows students a boost in their chakra control, while not damaging their chakra core or their pathways, since the leaf exercise only requires a small amount of chakra to master it.

"Even if a student as absolutely abysmal chakra control, the forehead limits the amount of chakra being released. Since the place that the leaf is placed lies between two chakra limiting gates, so the chakra released may be a lot for those with bad control, but its nothing the chakra network cant handle, making this the perfect exercise to teach those with newly awakened chakra how to control their chakra without harm to themselves." explained Ebisu.

Naruto nodded, understanding perfectly. "You know I've never really understood how amazing the old academy curriculum. It truly was a work of genius. It not even a surprise that the weakest of the graduating class have become such powerful shinobi."

Ebisu got the feeling that he was talking about himself and the chunin of his class, but he ignored him. "I should inform you that I am somewhat of a sensor. I can detect the level of your chakra, its fairly above average for your age, so the exercise shouldn't give you much trouble. However I want you to practise this exercise whenever you can. I want you to get to the point that any less chakra applied to your forehead would cause the leaf to flutter away. I want you to get to this point without the need to concentrate, it should be a subconscious reaction when you apply the leaf to your forehead."

Naruto nodded in determination. He was pretty sure that it would take him until the academy began Ninjutsu training before his control was that perfect.

* * *

Naruto passed his second year academy examination, as if it were nothing, his Taijutsu scores had improved to a high b, almost a-rank. The same could be said for his Shurikenjutsu. His positioning in the class ranking was somewhere above the middle-ground of the class, it wasn't bad compared to his previous ranking in the class.

His progress with the leaf exercise wasn't bad, he had above average reserves for his age, so the exercise itself wasn't difficult, no it was trying to perfect the exercise to the point where if he applied any less chakra the leaf would fall off.

Still, he had been training and studying as hard as he was able to. This would be vital to his survival against those that would target him because of his status as the jinchuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune

* * *

 **A/N: I would like to thank those that have followed favourite or reviewed my story. So let me answer a few reviews.**

 **Mahouka9- well as I said, in not sure about the pairings. And Mikoto definitely not! Like she's what? Almost twenty years his senior. And I really don't feel like using that logic that most writers spew, well old enough to kill, old enough to have sex, old enough to drink, so...having sex with one of my classmates mother fit right in there. On the other hand I'll probably consider Temari and Tenten...maybe.**

 **Anarion87-thanks.**

 **Dark Prime0- thanks, yeah I know what you mean. Like I have a severe dislike for the Naruto/Hinata/Sakura pairing, like I look through a story summary and it seems totally badass and then I see the pairing and I'm like "Why!" its basically the same reaction I have when I see a Harry/Ginny pairing**

 **Novrier - Yeah I also dislike the mob scene, I usually just skip ahead, because its all usually about Naruto being stabbed millions of times and crucified and burned alive and then survives, and continues to be a ninja of Konoha. And in most stories the only point that these whole sequence of events has is to get Naruto in touch with his tailed beast. Yeah I actually wrote the first version of this story already, it has about 80 000 words, but I decided to rewrite and use segments of the story in the new fic. Thanks the training regimen that Iruka is using was a spur of the moment kind of thing for me. Lastly Shino and Naruto being friendly towards one another is only logical. I mean come on they should of been great friends in canon, Naruto's all jittery and boisterous, while Shino is reserved and intelligent, like they would of been best friends. Shino improves Naruto logic, and thinking skills, while Naruto makes Shino come out of his shell, and be more social towards his peers.**

 **A/N2- So, has anyone else noticed the similarities between Harry potter and Naruto? I mean Harry Potter and Naruto, what link do they have? They both have soul or soul like construct that is sealed or stuck in them. Voldemort and Orochimaru? Snakes, and pseudo immortality(Immortality jutsu and curse marks/Homunculus and Horcruxes.) Hiruzen Sarutobi and Albus-too-many-names-Dumbledore are really similar, in both life and death. Except Hiruzen was too bad ass too die and not as manipulative as Dumbledore. And I'm sure there is more, but this is the only thing that matters. Jiraiya and Sirius. Both the protagonists godfather or something similar, both died to protect their godsons, and people cried when those too died, and Jiraiya and Fanon!Sirius were both playboys. Sorry about that I just had to let it out, nobody else I know are fans of Harry potter and Naruto to the same extent as myself.**


	4. Chapter 4

**The inheritor of the Rikudou Sennin's will**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the associated characters. I earn absolutely no money from this, how sad.**

 **Chapter 4: Pet Evaluation exam**

* * *

Naruto woke up to Amaterasu sleeping on his chest, when he first woke up with his pet - well people say that he should call her his pet, however he likes to think of her as his closest friend - rabbit on his chest he was surprised, since to his knowledge they preferred closed spaces like burrows or shelters that hide them from view. He gently held her to his chest while he got up, he placed her onto the bed before leaving the room.

"I'll be back Amaterasu-chan. . .I love you." Naruto smiled lovingly at his closest friend.

Naruto left his room and walked into the bathroom, stripping himself of his clothing as he closed the door.

He turned on his shower and waited for it to warm up, he stepped under the shower head and sighed in bliss as he felt the warm droplets of water beat against his skin. While he showered he thought about all of the training he had done over the years, he was now much better than he was when he first started out, he was now halfway through his fourth year, almost a genin - provided he passed the graduation exam.

He had already learned all three of the academy Ninjutsu, and a few elemental Jutsu, although there was more for him to learn, he decided that he would completely master the Jutsu that he had, instead of learning more.

He clearly remembered the conversation that he had with Ebisu that allowed him to make this decision.

* * *

 **Six months ago**

 **Naruto and Ebisu**

"Ebisu-sensei, how did you manage to learn all the Ninjutsu that you have given me, as well as the other areas of study before your graduation?"

"Before graduation? No we learned whatever we hadn't been able to complete under our jonin sensei, that aside we never had a graduation, well we did, but no one considered it such. Our true graduation was our first mission outside of the village." said Ebisu.

"So, I don't have to complete those Ninjutsu before I graduate?" asked Naruto.

"It would be amazing if you did, but why do you not think you will?" asked Ebisu.

"Because I want to spend more time on mastering the academy Ninjutsu. They may be basic, but I have already thought of a few good ideas for the clone Jutsu, and I cant use them to the fullest extent without mastering them." said Naruto, before taking a small breath. "and there is something else, if I tell you, please don't tell anyone."

"Is it some dangerous kinjutsu?" asked Ebisu warily. _Sarutobi-sama said that he knows about the Kyuubi. Maybe he wants to access its chakra? I've heard of jinchuriki performing such a feat._

"No, if it fails I'll only have more chakra and maybe even more control." said Naruto.

 _The Kyuubi_ _'s_ _chakra then._

"I want to try my hand at nature transformation." said Naruto.

' _Thank Kami!'_ Ebisu internally sighed. "Nature transformation seems quite the lofty goal for an academy student, in their forth year no less."

"Ebisu-sensei, did I ever tell you that I met Kazekage-sama's daughter?" asked Naruto.

Ebisu not knowing where he was going with this shook his head."No, I don't believe you have."

"Well, I was seven at the time. Hokage-sama gave Kazekage-sama a scroll which he gave to his daughter. I was tasked with being her escort. She sat under a tree with a leaf clutched between her hands. I had no idea what she was doing, so I asked her, I later found out that it a wind nature transformation exercise. The basics that I was able to grasp from the exercise is that you required to cut the leaf in half with your chakra." said Naruto.

"That's quite the story. But you do know that wind may not even be your affinity?" asked Ebisu.

Naruto nodded in confirmation. "That's exactly why, because if its not my affinity, I will have more Ninjutsu to my arsenal. As you know wind is the most offensive element while earth is the most defensive, if I am able, no matter what my affinity is, I'll make sure that I have at least the basic affinity exercises down, the Jutsu would be much, much easier to learn. You already know of the Sharingan affinity theory."

"You mean that the Sharingan gives those with the doujutsu the ability to create an artificial affinity after copying enough Jutsu of that particular element or using a copied Jutsu enough?" asked Ebisu.

"Yes, obviously I do not have the Sharingan, but I'm sure I can get around that." said Naruto.

"How?" asked Ebisu.

"That's easy, all I need to do is master the elemental exercises and use the Jutsu to get my chakra attuned to the elemental frequency. With enough practise one additional element that is attuned to my chakra will be all too easy." said Naruto.

"Are you so naive to think that others have not tried it?" asked Ebisu.

"I'm sure they have, but chakra is like water, it may be transparent, but given a little encouragement it can easily take on the colour of something else. A little colourant will do wonders." said Naruto.

"Except in your case the amount of colourant needed is astronomical." said Ebisu.

"Not really, chakra and nature chakra is still chakra, so its much easier." replied Naruto. "Plus I'm going to be a future S-rank shinobi, if it is possible, then I will do it."

* * *

And yes, he had began his attempts at mastering the leaf cutting exercise, in six months he had progressed to just below halfway. Which was quite good considering that it was a jonin-level chakra control exercise. Because of this his general chakra control had improved dramatically, he was almost as good as those that were born with natural high-levels of chakra control.

Add on to the fact that his chakra reserves had increased significantly from the constant use of chakra when he used the leaf cutting exercise. He would soon begin attempting to decrease the hand seals that he needed to use for his basic academy Ninjutsu.

He had also recently been creating a new attack using two of his old academy Jutsu. The problem was that he needed to get to the point where he used no hand seals, to really use it effectively, he had actually used it in a spar with Ebisu.

* * *

 **(One month prior - Ebisu vs Naruto)**

Naruto stood across from his enemy, breathing slightly, while sweat dripped from his brow. He wiped it dry with his shirt sleeve, before dashing forward, he snapped his first forward as he came into Naruto's reach, the jonin easily slapped the fist aside and lashed out with a kick to Naruto's ribs, who went through hand seals.

The kick connected before he could finish the hand seals. He grunted in pain but he didn't stop flowing through the hand seals. A look of appreciation appeared over Ebisu's face for millisecond, however he decided to finish it before Naruto finished the technique.

He flashed forward with a powerful elbow strike, determined to finish the spar. Naruto finished his hand seals. Ebisu struck Naruto in the head only for his elbow to go straight through his head, and Naruto's image flickered away like dust in the wind.

Naruto was actually five metres east of his original position, while a log was all that remained in Naruto's original position.

"That was quite remarkable,"said Ebisu before disappearing from view. "unfortunately much to slow."Ebisu appeared behind him, and gave him a chop to the side of the neck - knocking him unconscious as a result.

* * *

Too efficiently use these two techniques in collaboration, Naruto needed to improve his chakra control, and that is where the wind nature transformation comes in. It does not only help you change the nature of your chakra, but improves both your control and reserves of chakra.

If he mastered the leaf cutting exercise, the E-rank academy Jutsu will become all too easy to master without hand seals. He just needed to master the leaf cutting exercise first.

All he had left to master was his Taijutsu, which would take him until genin graduation to master. Add on to that Ebisu would be teaching him kenjutsu, combined with his wind release it could truly be a devastating tool.

Still, when he looked back on the events that transpired in the leaf village, he couldn't find it in him to focus on training, or anything in the academy for that matter. The Uchiha massacre. From the whispers around the village, Naruto was able to find out that Itachi Uchiha slaughtered the whole of the Uchiha clan, besides his little brother Sasuke. The man, no boy was a genius. At the age of thirteen he had become a captain of his own squad. Certain Anbu squads - or members - have specialities: Assassination, capture and interrogation, intelligence gathering and front line combat specialists. Itachi filled all of these requirements. In fact there were rumours that he was being fast tracked for greater leadership. His ascend would take to three paths, Jonin lord commander, Anbu lord commander of all quadrants and the next Hokage after the Yondaime's reign. Sadly, he went mad and slaughtered his entire clan.

The Yondaime also released a statement to the general populace confirming the whispers that went around. fourteen year old Itachi Uchiha had became the youngest s-rank shinobi listed in the bingo book.

This happened a few years ago, but Naruto still worried about power. To be precise the way power corrupted the mind. From what Ebisu told him of international missing-nin, and later showed him in the bingo book. Suffice to say they weren't there because the bingo book manufacturer liked the way they looked, or the village leader held a grudge against them for deflowering their daughter or seducing them. No they were there for one reason. They committed vile and cruel acts against their village. Some, were not as bad as others, but terrible nonetheless.

Kisame Hoshigaki for example, he was known for his many epithets. The monster of the mist, the human-shark, the tailless-tailed beast. But none could reveal his true nature, except the Kinslayer. The man was known for killing his own squad, for killing the former owner of his great blade Samehada, for killing the Sandaime Mizukage.

The man was true evil. As far as shinobi standards went, his only crime was disloyalty, which was the vilest of acts, beyond that he had no true crime.

It was the same for many of missing-ninja of the different villages. Their true crime was disloyalty on a major scale. Itachi Uchiha was the same, he was disloyal to his family, the village and the land of fire.

Most shinobi are of the highest degree of hypocrisy and would look down upon Itachi Uchiha, and Kisame Hoshigaki's various ' misdeeds ' but not Naruto. He understands what a shinobi is meant to be. A kunai and a shield to their village. Most genin and even chunin shy away from the fact that killing is a part of life. Some may delude themselves into thinking that they are killing to protect their team mates, killing for the sake of the mission, killing for the client and above all killing for the sake of village. In the ninja world killing is killing, there are no two ways about it. A better way to understand it is, if "ninja a" of "village a" is given a task by "client a" to protect said client. And "ninja b" of "village b" is given a mission to kill "client a" and bring in great fortune for their village. "Ninja b" ends up killing "client a", but "ninja a" kills "ninja b." Who is in the right? Who can truly say that their killing had any true intent besides the money and blood. That's right, none. Most shinobi hide behind their reasons for killing as if it is the only thread that remains of their sanity. The fact of the matter is, death is not something shinobi should shy away from, because when you have no friends, no family no one to turn to, only one constant will remain. And that is death.

even before that there were mutterings, that today is simply known as the Hyuga incident. A number of Kumo delegates had came to Konoha to sign a treaty. Naruto wasn't sure if it was an alliance or a non-conflict treaty. The second one seems more logical, given their history. The non-conflict treaty acts as a buffer between the two villages, basically its a promise between the two villages to not provoke or kill or trespass on the others village unless they are give explicit permission to do so.

The word around the village was that the Yondaime was pushing for a neutrality treaty, which would allow each of the villages to trade with one another, and attend one another's exams. Suffice to say it didn't work-out. Kumo only wanted the non-conflict treaty.

While the Kumo delegation signed the treaty, one of the members separated from the main group and kidnapped Hinata Hyuga - the daughter of the clan head - he made off with her, but he was ultimately stopped - killed - by the Hiashi Hyuga, otherwise known as the Hyuga clan head.

Following that the Raikage known as Ei demanded the clan heads body. The Yondaime outright refused. They threatened to go to war, and the Yondaime Hokage's simple reply was, they could go to war if they wanted to, but he would make what he did to Iwagakure in the third shinobi war look like mercy compared to what he would do to the entire Kumogakure shinobi force.

There wasn't any war. Not surprising, they were in the wrong, they planned to steal the Byakugan from Konoha, and more than likely they aimed to rape Hinata and produce Kumo loyal Byakugan because their plans failed would not be funded by the Daimo of Kaminari no Kuni. They had no option but to form a border restriction treaty.

That aside, there wasn't much else that happened in the village, besides the return of Kushina Uzumaki-Namikaze as a fully fledged shinobi. Apparently she had been making a number of waves among the kenjutsu circles.

She used a Uzumaki style of kenjutsu, and its rumoured that she has also entered the Anbu. Not to mention the fact they she is the commander of the eastern Anbu quadrant.

The woman had various titles. Some called her the red death of Konoha/Uzu. Others called her the reaper of blood and some simply called her deaths champion. According to most shinobi, she was ruthless and efficient. Nobody knew what her Anbu identity was, all they knew that she was the lady commander of the east quadrant.

Naruto was actually excited to begin his kenjutsu instruction if Kushina Uzumaki-Namikazi's use of it is any example of it effectiveness. Unfortunately, it would take him long before he could truly say that he is a practitioner of true kenjutsu. His weakness was that his focus was spread too thin.

Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, Bukijutsu, fuinjutsu, Genjutsu, chakra control, nature transformation and soon kenjutsu would be on the cards. Add the academy material he needs to study, and it has him spread way too thin. But he was too far now to focus on one area, so he is just going to continue on the same path, hopefully it would be beneficial in the long run.

* * *

In six months Naruto had managed to master the Bunshin no Jutsu(clone Jutsu) to the point no hand seals were needed - he still used hand seals occasionally, but they were more for show than anything else. He was still weak enough that being underestimated constituted as a great advantage.

His Henge no Jutsu(transformation Jutsu) was mastered to the same level as his Bunshin no Jutsu(clone Jutsu) - requiring no hand seals. Only his Kawarimi no Jutsu(substitution Jutsu) required hand seals, but then again it was a rather difficult technique to get down with no hand seals. Only Jonins and ambitious Chunin's ever used the technique in a fight - because a) they had the requisite hand speed or B) had both the control and familiarity with technique to complete it without hand seals.

He had also reached the point with the leaf cutting exercise that he was about a centre-meter away from severing it completely. This was one of the reason he was able to complete two of the three academy Jutsu without need for hand seals.

His Taijutsu - the academy level - was completely mastered. He had managed to blend the two halves of the old academy Taijutsu - namely Konoha ken or to be much more specific: The yielding stem and the indomitable trunk. He had managed to blend the to together as one Taijutsu style. All he had left was to refine it further before he started learning the genin level techniques. As far as Taijutsu went in reference to his classmates Naruto was right up there with the best of them(Sasuke, Menma and Kiba.)he was third in the class, Sasuke and Menma and superior speed, and slightly better technique. Kiba on the other hand was faster, but lacked Naruto's technique.

His kenjutsu was basic to say the least, he had only learned with a Shinai, and had yet to buy a blade but most of what he learned during his spars with Ebisu were strikes and parries. Namely a stabbing thrust in any direction and from above to below and from below upwards(rear-grip), left to right and right to left, right-diagonal strike from above to below left diagonal strike and from left-diagonal strike below upwards into right-diagonal and finally above left-diagonal strike to right diagonal and below right-diagonal strike upwards in to left diagonal(reverse grip.)

His chakra control had also improved, not drastically, but it was still noticeable. He had mid-chunin level control. His reserves were average-genin level, no surprise there, he barely ever used high ranking Jutsu, even with him using the leaf cutting exercise, it had slowly built up from slightly above academy level to mid-genin level.

His Shurikenjutsu skill was slightly lower than Sasuke - not surprising as he is an Uchiha. Surprisingly both Naruto and Sasuke were behind Menma in terms of Shurikenjutsu, why his Shurikenjutsu was so high? Neither of them knew.

Naruto would only be learning Genjutsu detection, dispelling and creation in his last year along with fuinjutsu. He would also be further refining his skills in this year, and maybe learn one of two more Jutsu.

* * *

Naruto sat in his seat next to Shino in the academy, he and Shino had at first become good friends, but training had got in the way on both sides, so they had no time to socialise as much as they wanted to.

Well Shino never really needed to socialise with people in general, they were too judgemental of his abilities. But he did want to gain a better rapport with Naruto. His first and only friend.

Naruto was curious as too why they were at the academy today, they had finished all of their examinations, and all they were told was that they should bring their pet rabbits with them, because they would be getting evaluated.

How they were being evaluated he had no idea.

"What do you think about this evaluation?" asked Naruto.

"I suspect that it is too gauge how well we took care of our "team-mate" but it does seem a little to obvious." said Shino.

"Yes that was my first thoughts on the matter. They could of given our teammates annually or bi-annually evaluation, why now? It seems odd to say the least." said Naruto.

"Shino Aburame!" Shino was called by Iruka.

Shino disappeared for a while taking his rabbit with him into Iruka's office. He didn't appear for a long time and then Iruka called the next name and so on. He waited patiently he was next. A lot of the class still remained, as it was only at the letter k.

"Naruto Konoha." said Iruka.

Naruto got up with his rabbit snuggled into his hands and entered Iruka's office. He noticed the room was empty, so where were the other students? Then he noticed a door on the side of the office. They must of left through there.

"Now Naruto this evaluation will decide if you will be allowed to continue the current ninja program." said Iruka. "Now place you rabbit on the table."

Naruto looked at the table, it was a metal table that smelled of cleaning supplies. Naruto did as he asked giving Amaterasu a reassuring stroke to the head.

"Your rabbits name is Amaterasu?" asked Iruka.

"She is my partner, but yes sensei."

"Describe your relationship with Amaterasu." said Iruka.

"We're best friends, I love her like I imagine family would love one other." said Naruto resolutely.

Naruto almost thought he saw Iruka flinch but he wasn't sure. "Do you take care of your rabbit by yourself?"

'No I let Kyuubi look after her, and when its busy I ask my non-existent parents too.' Naruto thought snarkily. "I take care of her myself."

"How long have you had your rabbit?" asked Iruka.

'They should know this, they gave the rabbits to us.' Naruto sighed internally before replying. "Since my first year."

Iruka neatly stacked the paperwork at his desk that he had been filling in and placed it in a manilla file. All that remained on his desk was a piece of paper, the manilla folder, a pen and two stamps(one on each side.)

"I have two stamps here, the one on the right has the word pass on it, and the one on the left has the word fail on it. If you refuse to do what I ask you will be moved from this shinobi program to another, and its unlikely that you will ever be a field shinobi." said Iruka seriously.

Naruto began to stress about what his sensei want from him. "Hai sensei."

"I want you to kill Amaterasu." said Iruka seriously.

"What kind of joke is this? Because its not a very good one."Naruto remarked angrily.

Before Iruka could answer an Anbu stepped forward from the shadows themselves. The Anbu wore a bear-mask."Naruto-san this is no joke, if you do not kill the rabbit you will be kicked off the shinobi program, indefinitely."

Naruto nodded calmly. Almost too calm. "What kind of bullshit is this? You want me to kill my partner. We were told on the very first day we got our pets that we should treat our pets as our teammates!"raged Naruto, tears leaking from his eyes, but he didn't care. "And now you want me to kill my teammate?"

'Thank Kami for silencing seals.' Iruka thought internally.

"Kill the rabbit or fail, it is as simple as that."

Naruto silently raged as the tears continued to fall down his face. He gulped, before withdrawing a kunai from his shinobi tool pouch. His hands began to shake so much that he almost lost his grip on the kunai, his throat and stomach was filled with a sick feeling that he couldn't explain. Like needing to throw-up, yet not quite.

He brought down his quivering hand with kunai held shakily in it.

Tang!

Naruto's kunai hit the table and fell from his grasp. He was breathing raggedly, almost to the point that he was hyperventilating. His eyes were wide the tears had stopped - he had no more to give.

"Naruto-kun, I'm sorry, but since you couldn't kill your rabbit you fail." said Iruka as he picked up the stamp on his left side and proceeded to bring it down on the paper.

"No! No I can do it." Naruto's eyes became icy-blue as he steeled himself. His heart beating faster than he knew possible, bile rising to his throat but he pushed it back down. He gripped his kunai by the handle, it was shaky in his grip. He gripped it tighter, his hand only twitching occasionally. "I'm sorry my friend, I love you." Naruto thrust his kunai into the throat of Amaterasu, the sound of metal piercing flesh was deafening. Blood squirted from her throat spraying it all over Naruto hand and arm, even a little had managed to reach his face.

"I'm sorry." he whispered.

"Congratulations Naruto-kun you pass." said Iruka.

Naruto shot him a venomous look. "This is hardly worth the praise. I just killed my partner, my teammate just so that I could fulfil my dream of becoming a shinobi."

"Right well, you're free to go." said Iruka uncomfortably.

"May I take Amaterasu with me? To give her a proper funeral." Naruto looked down at his rabbit, his kunai still lodged in her neck - skewering it through one end and exiting out the other end..

"I don't see a problem-"said Iruka.

"No, you have just killed your comrade, you don't deserve to give her a proper funeral. This is the life of a shinobi. It is filled with up and downs and a lot of things that you would rather not go through, but it is your duty as a shinobi. Now get out we have the rest of class to go through." said the bear faced Anbu form the shadows.

Naruto grunted, casting a steely gaze, filled with unadulterated hate and anguish at the area he assumed the Anbu occupied. "If I ever find out your identity, I will kill you make no mistake about it. I have already killed one comrade, what's another?"

The Anbu replied, Naruto could actually tell which direction it came from her turned to the opposite side of the office, just behind Iruka, where the only feature visible was the Anbu's mask. "Noted." Naruto would of been startled had he not been so angry.

Instead he stormed out the room with anguish and vengeance at the forefront of his mind.

Iruka sighed sadly as the boy walked out of his office. This was truly a horrifying ultimatum. Kill your rabbit or fail the ninja academy. Well they wouldn't be failed, merely placed in some other shinobi related job that they wouldn't be forced to kill. Either that or their chakra will be sealed up.

He hoped that this wouldn't be bad for Konoha, especially since he was their jinchuriki.

* * *

 **(Minato - Hokages residence)**

"Bear report." said Minato.

"Every student in the class managed to kill their rabbits. At the very least when they end up killing an enemy shinobi they will not freeze up. They may have some negative feelings afterwards, but that cannot be helped. It seems that your plan failed to work for the vast majority of the class, some benefited from it, but not in the way you wanted it. With the exception of one student." said the Anbu with a bear mask.

"Who?"the Hokage was now intrigued.

"Naruto Konoha."

"Why was he any different?"

"Because he truly thought of the rabbit as his partner, his friend and teammate. There are reports of the child taking the rabbit almost everywhere he went, some of my Anbu even reported him giving his rabbit a birthday ceremony. When he had to kill it, he was shaking all over, at first he failed to kill it, but when he was about to be failed he reaffirmed his conviction and killed his rabbit after saying sorry. After that I noticed a difference in his personality, he seemed to be more hardened, he even threatened to kill me if he found out my identity. I may have been harsh, but since it worked better than all the other students, I knew I needed to push him further for the effects of this experiment to be long lasting."

"I suppose," Minato sighed. "this was my best chance at creating truly efficient shinobi." Minato suddenly widened his eyes and quickly waved the Anbu away. Soon enough a constant tapping of wood to floor was heard.

Minato knew who it was and he knew that this particular visitor liked to just enter a room as if he was supposed to be there and you were the one that was bothering him. He quickly made a half-tiger hand seal while his other hand gestured towards the door. The doors surface glowed slightly with a sealing formula branching out over the door.

Just after the seal activated Minato took notice of the door handle being twisted, and he grinned. 'Take that!' he did a mental victory dance. The handle was twisted a few more times before Minato heard the visitor knocking on the door.

"Just a moment." said Minato as he stacked his paperwork to one side, there was a sealing formula where he placed it. It soon disappeared in a flash of yellow, he only had a small amount of paperwork left, which he would finish with shadow clones later.

Minato took his seat once more, placing his Hokage hat on his head, just to show his visitor who exactly he was talking to. For extra measure he moved his Hiraishin kunai - which was on an ornamental stand - closer to his side of the desk, he also removed the picture of his family from the table and put it into one of his draws at his desk.

The Yondaime then gestured at the door while making a half-tiger seal. "You may enter."

The door swung open and a calm looking elderly man entered room. Minato subtly brought his interlocked his fingers under his chin, creating a snake hand seal. 'Fuin: chakra area void Jutsu.'

Minato turned his attention to the man, he had shaggy dark hair, and a bandage over his right eye ad his chin had a 'x' shaped scar on it. He wore a white kimono, a black robe over that until his feet and black shinobi sandals. Only one of his arms were visible.

"Danzo, a pleasure." smiled Minato, knowing full well with his 'seal antidote ' he was the only one in the room that could use chakra. Truthfully, it wasn't so much an antidote as it was the seal simply didn't recognise him because of a seal he had concealed on his person. He knew he had all the power in the room, and he intended to milk it for all that it was worth. "Please take a seat."

Danzo showed no outward reaction thus far, but Minato knew that he had succeeded at disgruntling the elderly man. The elder took the offered seat. "It seems that your plan has failed."

"No."

"No?"he quirked his left - and only visible eyebrow.

"No."nodded Minato with a slight upturn of his lips.

"Explain."he said simply.

"Cant you figure it out?" asked Minato.

"It seems that I cannot."he ground out.

"Well as you know the academy is full of fangirls, and those that are simply not serious about being a shinobi, or what it entails. With this little experiment they will take the path of a shinobi more seriously. And it didn't completely fail."said Minato.

"You mean Uzumaki?" asked Danzo.

"Uzumaki? I'm not aware of any Uzumaki in that class besides my children, and as you know they are Namikaze." said Minato.

"It doesn't matter what you choose to call the boy, we both know of his origins and his blood, if you think I have not tested his blood, then you are more naive than I thought. He has strong genes, his genes are closest true Uzumaki genes that I have seen, your wife included." Danzo adjusted himself in his seat. "That aside, he reacted the best to the experiment, so I think I'm going to keep an eye on him. You should of just given him to me in the first place. That way I could of trained him to be the weapon that you made him to be."

"Tell me would you have made him emotionless like the rest of the shinobi under your command?" asked Minato.

"Yes."he said without hesitation.

"Then he would not be a true weapon." said Minato. "we are humans not kunai, we are fuelled by emotion, furthermore if you were to take away his emotion, and then he somehow gained access to the Kyuubi's power, what do you think would happen when he received that influx of emotion? Emotion being something he would be completely unfamiliar with? He would be over taken by the power of the Kyuubi, and the Kyuubi would be released, and Konoha would be destroyed." said Minato calmly, he paused for a few minutes before he continued. "Follow him and watch him if you must, but I will not have you turn the boy into an emotionless tool. Now leave me, I have work to do."

"Very well _Hokage-sama._ " Danzo said mockingly, as he left.

"Idiot, your schemes will be bare before me." said Minato as he turned his attention to the glowing formula on the door handle.

* * *

Naruto had been staring vacantly at his rabbits cage for the past week, only stopping to eat every two days. He just couldn't believe that Amaterasu was gone. And he was the reason that she was gone, it was all his fault, and there was no bringing her back.

It was because of his warmongering village too. It didn't take him long too come to that conclusion from his week of contemplation. They made them kill their "Teammates" so that they would have no of issues when it came to killing the enemies of the village. So that they would know how to kill their heart if it came to that.

Still, Naruto thought it was completely unfair. Why did he have to kill Amaterasu? He had actually formed a bond with her. A bond of friendship, a familial bond. He loved her and they could see how close they were, and they still made him kill her.

Whereas the rest of class lost interest in their rabbits a little while after they got them. Even Shino did - although he couldn't blame him, he needed to attend to his colony.

He silently fumed when an image of the bear faced Anbu popped into his mind. 'The bastard didn't even let me give her a funeral like she deserved.'

he grumbled as he heard knocking at the door. It was Ebisu and Konohamaru again. But he ignored them he needed to mourn. The worst part was that he couldn't even cry any more, he had used all of his tears and had no more to give. He sighed before turning his attention back to Amaterasu's cage. 'I may be able to give her a funeral with the cage.'

* * *

 **A couple of days later**

"Naruto-kun, where have you been? You've missed several days of training, you better have a good excuse!" raged Ebisu as after he kicked Naruto door open.

Naruto barely paid him any mind as he gathered Amaterasu's cage and all of her other possessions. "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to burn these things?" said Naruto.

"Why what happened to Amaterasu? Why are your burning her things?" asked Ebisu.

"Long story short I killed her, if I didn't I would fail the academy, and when I asked if I could at least bury her remains they said no. So this the closest thing to a funeral that I can give her." Naruto barely paid him a glance as he finished gathering all her things.

Ebisu's mind was working a mile a second. 'so they actually used project trust.' he then asked, "Where are you taking all that?"

"To the Sarutobi pyre. I might as well invite Konohamaru-kun and Hiruzen-sama." said Naruto.

* * *

 **(Konohamaru and Ebisu and Hiruzen attend funeral)**

Hiruzen, Konohamaru, Ebisu and Naruto all gathered in front of a funeral pyre. On it was a cage and assortment of pet toys and blankets. They had been standing in front of the pyre silently for a short while. Konohamaru was quite saddened by the news, so much so that he actually cried. Not surprising if you consider the fact that whenever Naruto trained, he would leave Amaterasu with Konohamaru.

"May I say a few words? Naruto-kun?" asked the former-Hokage.

"Go ahead." he said plainly.

"Amaterasu was a beautiful rabbit and her soul was even more so, her name was truly fitting, for only she could be compared to the goddess of the sun was Intelligent, but above all she was family not just to Naruto but to all of us. She taught Naruto how to love when he had nobody to love him. She filled him with brightness that could only be matched by the sun. It is now time she returns to he namesake and once more joins the sun." said Hiruzen, he made a ring just in front of his lips with his fingers. "Katon: Kasai Nagare(Fire Release: fire stream)" he breathed out an intense stream of orange flames that ignited the funeral pyre.

It burnt everything to ashes besides the cage, Sarutobi focussed his flames on the cage which began to melt from the intense heat of the flames. It joined in with the flames of funeral pyre, saying one last goodbye before all that remained of Amaterasu's possessions were only remnants of the real thing.

* * *

 **(Naruto - Sarutobi training field - six months before graduation)**

"Ha!" exclaimed Naruto, he held both of his palms outwards and faced up a leaf and each hand was severed in two.

"That's very good Naruto." said Ebisu. "You only need to train so that the technique is much more effortless to complete. Nonetheless it has done wonders for your chakra control, which was quite high to begin with. I cant even believe that you have mastered wind release nature transformation training so fast - even if it is only the primary exercise."

"Thank you sensei." said Naruto in a monotone voice.

Ebisu sighed. Ever since Amaterasu had died the boy had a much more pessimistic view on life. He no longer had any reservations on killing, and he lost most of the enthusiasm that he once had. He still had drive, that wasn't in question, he just wasn't as bright as he used to be. Even before he was somewhat reserved, but now he could be mistaken for an Anbu in-training for all the personality that he showed outwardly. "We will be getting your weapon today. Obviously its going to be a sword of some sort, you can get whatever length and style that suits you best."

Naruto's eyes sparked for a second before they regained their usual icy appearance. 'Its the small things I guess.' Ebisu shrugged.

"It better be made from chakra conductive steel." said Naruto.

"It will be, anything less would be a waste." said Ebisu. 'That and I'm not paying for it. Sandaime-sama is.'

The duo left their training ground in the Sarutobi compound and entered shinobi area of the village. They needed to be in shinobi district in the village because other weapons stores would merely have low quality supplies. And they would not have chakra conductive anything. Never mind a blade.

They passed a few weapons stores, Naruto didn't question Ebisu as to why they didn't go into one of those, he knew that Ebisu had a specific shop in mind. The two stopped at a medium sized store with a giant scroll in front of the store. On the left side of the scroll there was a kunai, and on the right there was a Shuriken. In-between the two throwing weapons it said Higurashi weapons and utility.

The inside of the store was much bigger than Naruto had first perceived it to be. 'Must be expansion seals. My own fuinjutsu is currently limited to basic storage, and explosive notes - that have no right being labelled that, they're more like glorified fireworks. Still though its impressive, the only reason that I didn't specialise in fuinjutsu is because its way too hard to find and way too dangerous to experiment with. I was lucky that I mastered the Kawarimi no Jutsu to the point of no hand seals, or I would missing an arm.' he shivered internally.

Forgetting those internal thoughts for the moment Naruto ventured deeper into the store. All the way into the sword section of the store. He noticed that were an assortment of swords on the racks: from tanto to kitana and the even larger Zanbato. Still none of them seemed to be chakra conductive, most chakra conductive weapons had a dark hue on the blade, sometimes not, but one thing was for certain, they were not chakra conductive. He tried to flow his chakra through the blade, but it felt like he was tying to shove his hand through a hole that had a one millimetre diameter.

"My name is Tenten, how can I help you?" a girl asked, he wasn't surprised by her appearance, he had a minor sensor ability.

Ebisu appeared from one of aisles. "Yes we want to buy a chakra conductive sword."

Naruto turned his attention to the girl. She had brown hair that was done in twin buns on top of her head, she looked remarkably like a panda. On her forehead there was Konoha forehead protector, with two short bangs over it on either side. Much like her hair, her eyes were also brown. She wore a pink, sleeveless qipao-shirt with red trimming, green pants and shinobi sandals.

"Naruto didn't you hear? She is taking us to the back of the store." said Ebisu, and then elaborated. "They are only allowed to sell chakra conductive weapons to chunin or higher."

Naruto nodded, before silently following. The back of the store was just as filled with weapons as the front of the store. He could also feel the chakra in the room with his minor sensor ability. 'Must be security seals of a sort.'

Naruto surveyed the weapons going from one weapon to another holding them in his hands and then placing them back where he found them. He searched for about thirty minutes not finding what he wanted. "Naruto-kun, what about this one?"

Ebisu held a sixty centimetre sword in his hands. Naruto took it in his hands, it had plain black handle and sheath. he removed the blade from the sheath, it was single-edged with a slight point at the tip of the blade. The blade had a slight grey hue along the bottom, while the top was much darker.

Naruto rolled the handle between his fingers and gave a few practice swings - ensuring that they were far away from Ebisu and the shop assistant - it seemed perfect. The Ninjatō was perfect, it wasn't too heavy, nor too light. It was also just the right length for him. "Its perfect."

"Wait its for him?"the twin bun-haired girl asked. She just thought that he was only browsing, or the jonin was asking his opinion on the matter, but the way he swung it then said it was 'perfect' could only mean that it was for him.

"Yes. Is there a problem with that?" asked Naruto.

"Yes, firstly we are not allowed to sell chakra conductive weapons to anyone below chunin. Secondly, where is your forehead-protector? You must be an academy student."

"Okay then, Ebisu-sensei - a Tokubetsu jonin might I add - will be buying it and gifting it to me." said Naruto.

"But it will be a waste, why cant you use a normal weapon." she asked, "if you're an academy student it would be such a waste, you don't even look like you're from a good clan, you don't look that good at all. You probably don't know how to use a blade." she said heatedly.

Naruto raised an eyebrow. 'What kind of shopkeeper or shop-assistant says no to business, and then belittles their customers.' Naruto then said. "Its true I only know the basics, but that doesn't matter. If I had used a normal blade I wouldn't be able to do this." said Naruto as he flowed his chakra through the weapon. It lit with an ethereal blue glow along the blade, it seemed smooth for the most part with a couple of bubbles along the shroud of chakra.

"Try the wind." said Ebisu.

Naruto nodded, his face contorted into a look of concentration. The shroud shrunk slightly contorting to the shape of blade, becoming thinner and sharper.

Ebisu smirked. "Impressive as always my Kouhai."

Tenten's eyes sparkled in admiration. "We have to spar some time."

"Are you any good?" asked Naruto.

She scoffed. "Besides the chakra thing I'm way better than you."

"Good, you help with kenjutsu and I'll help you with chakra flow. When did you graduate?" asked Naruto.

"Not too long ago, why?" asked Tenten.

"Well ninja usually specialise, I want to know if you specialise in anything that I can help you with or I can teach you something to help you with it?" asked Naruto.

"What makes you think that you can help me? And why would you?"asked Tenten, giving him a serious look.

"Well because you're going to help me with my kenjutsu, we will be training together, so I should offer something in return." Naruto said with no inflection in his voice.

His tone of voice actually annoyed her. She never could tell what he was feeling by the tone in his voice. At least with Neji she could tell that there was sarcasm, annoyance or coolness(arrogance) in his voice. She replied nonetheless. "I specialise in weapons"

Naruto nodded. "I see, so long range or short range?" asked Naruto.

"Both, but I lean more to long range because of my accuracy." said Tenten. "I've only started my training, but weapons seems like the way to go. My sensei doesn't really use Genjutsu or Ninjutsu, he only works with Taijutsu. I'm sure that he knows a few other Jutsu, but I don't think we are at a level that he can teach us."

"You pick the time and place. As long as it isn't within academy hours." said Naruto.

"You've got it!" she exclaimed.

Naruto blinked at her enthusiasm."whatever."

* * *

Xxx

(Naruto - Three months later)

Naruto only had three months left until his graduation, he had spent most of that time simply refining his skills. His kenjutsu needed the most work, he still didn't have a style, he mostly used the basics that he was taught, with instincts and experience that he had gained from his spars with Tenten.

Speaking of spars with Tenten, Naruto had to raise his sword to parry Tenten's own to the side, she was undaunted however and spun with the direction of blade, and cut across Naruto's unprotected ribs.

He managed to halt some of the momentum behind the slash, but it still made contact. 'Fortunately, Tenten taught me the Suparingu-Ha no Jutsu (Sparring-Blade Jutsu) and luckily she knows it as well, or I would of had too many cuts to count.'

Naruto swiftly pushed the blade away from his ribs unbalancing Tenten, then he brought his blade across Tenten's unprotected stomach, gaining a grunt of pain from her. It may be blunt, but the blade was still painful.

He then drove the handle of the blade into her chin, she barely avoided it before she grabbed his shoulder with her freehand and held her Ninjatō to his neck with her other hand. "Another win for me Naruto-kun, what does that make us now? Twenty-five to thirty-five. I'm beating you." she smirked.

"True, but if I was allowed to use the other ninja branches this would be a completely different ball game." said Naruto plainly.

"Well don't be so arrogant about your skills, I have been a genin for three months, while you aren't even out of the academy. If we included the other ninja branches what makes you so sure that it will make a difference? Anyway, we're here to train your kenjutsu not everything else." said Tenten.

"You are correct. I think its time I help with what I said I would when we met." said Naruto.

"Something to help with weapons?"she asked brightly.

"Yes, its short-range though. It will still help you a lot, its very versatile and fits with your weapons speciality." said Naruto.

"What is it?" she asked brimming with excitement.

"Chakra flow."

"Chakra flow? Is it that thing you did when you first came in our shop?" asked Tenten.

Naruto nodded, before he coated his blade in his chakra, he made it thinner and after a look of concentration the chakra flow moved past the physical length of the blade and extended ten centimetres. "This is chakra flow." he then thrust the chakra into the ground creating a small incision. The chakra flow ceased and then he looked at her. "See, the blade didn't touch the ground, only the chakra did, can you see how useful it can be?"

She nodded in awe, but then she looked down. "But besides that it doesn't seem all that useful if I can only extend the blade and even then it isn't as powerful as the real blade."

"True, it takes a lot of training to get a lot of use from it, but its far from useless. There are many things you can do with chakra flow if you first learn how to extended the blade." said Naruto.

"Like what?"she quirked an eyebrow.

"Have you heard of the samurai of Tetsu no kuni?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah, apparently they use chakra conductive weapons to create chakra weapons with their Wakizashi-"she paused. "You mean if I learn how to use chakra flow and extend it, I can also learn how make chakra weapons like they do?!"

"Yes, its something I want to try too, but before that I need to get at least as good as you in kenjutsu." said Naruto. "Then we can spar each other without having to use that safety Jutsu, and after that we can start sparring with each other and use chakra flow."

"You're so on!" Tenten exclaimed, as she gave a hug, when she realised what she had done she quickly jumped away as if she had been stung. And indeed it seemed as if she had been, because her face was a flaming red.

"Nobody will know about this? Got it?" she threatened giving him the crazy eyes.

Naruto merely nodded. "Whatever."

* * *

Xxx

(Naruto - three months later - Academy)

Naruto sat his desk along with Shino, he now had Konoha forehead-protector tied around his head. He currently waited for Iruka to list the team placements.

"Team six will be composed of Mito Uzumaki-Namikaze, Sai and Naruto Konoha. Your sensei will be Raido Namiashi."said Iruka.

Naruto looked up from his desk in surprise, he didn't think that they would split up Hokage-sama's children. He caught Mito look at him, and he nodded at her. She gave a quick grin before scanning the class for their other teammate.

"Sensei, there is no Sai in our graduating class." said Naruto. "is he reserve or from another class?"

"No he was privately trained." said Iruka.

Naruto nodded sufficiently satisfied with the answer.

"Next is team seven, Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura haruno -" a scream of glee was heard by the whole class, followed by the sound of a head hitting a wooden desk. "Ahem! And Menma Uzumaki-Namikaze. Their sensei will be Kakashi Hatake."

"Oh come on! She gets two of the hotties from our class, and then Mito-chan gets the other! Its totally unfair." Ino sighed dejectedly.

"True love conquers all! Shannaro!" exclaimed Sakura.

"Moving on." Iruka cleared his voice. "Team eight will be composed of Shino Aburame, Hinata Hyuga and Kiba Inuzuka, their sensei will be Kurenai Yuhi."

"The best trackers in the academy boy! No one can beat us now!"exclaimed Kiba boisterously.

"Team nine is in rotation, so team ten will be composed of Shikamaru Nara, Ino Yamanaka and Choji Akimichi, your sensei will be Asuma Sarutobi." said Iruka.

"Its so unfair that I have to be grouped with a lazy oaf and a lazy glutton! Even Naruto-kun would be better than this!"Ino exclaimed, giving Naruto a saucy wink.

"Yes, well am I not lucky that Mito-chan is on my team?" asked Naruto, though his voice held almost no emotion. "Much better company."

"Aww, are you sure? I'm sure I know a few things that Mito doesn't?"said Ino, enjoying Mito's inflamed cheeks.

"I'm sure." replied Naruto plainly.

'I cant even tease Naruto properly. He has as much reaction as a statue.' she grouched.

Naruto smiled a little beside himself, finally he was genin.

* * *

Xxxx

 **Review answers**

 **Ezeakel - Thanks, and no female-Itachi because I don't do gender bending, if I wrote about it I would keep picturing a male Itachi. You will soon find out why Minato did it, and Kushina in this fic, unlike many other fics is not a complete angel and then Minato a complete demon. People seem to forget that outside missions Minato is basically just like Canon!Naruto, albeit a little less clueless. and less all over the place.**

 **Anarion87 - Thanks**

 **Naruita 14 - sorry I cant reply in French, but thank you and as I said to Ezeakel Fem!Itachi is unlikely because ill picture male Itachi in my head.**

 **Lara5170 - Naruto has no whisker marks, I never mentioned them in the chapter, plus he has red hair like Kushina. He may make friends or maybe not, his a bit frigid at the moment for that. As for Kushina she doesn't know about it, or maybe she does and as for the rest of your questions and hopes, well next chapter they should be answered.**

 **Alpha scribe - Thanks, and if your guess was right give yourself a digital cookie.**

 **A/N: Thanks so much for all the support everyone. Now then, I have a little challenge, as you have all no doubt seen in the summary of my story I said that Naruto has a Kekkei Genkai. Digital Ramen, Dango or whatever it is that suits you the most to whomever guesses what the Kekkei Genkai is.**

 **A/N2: I would also like it if you all took a look at my other Naruto fic, a year too early. The premise of the story is : what if Naruto painted the Hokage monument a year early resulting in the conversation between himself and Iruka Umino**


	5. Chapter 5

**The Inheritor of The Rikudo Sennin's will**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Enough said.**

 **Chapter 5 : The true Genin test**

* * *

Naruto sat under a tree with the rest of his teammates. Sai was an odd boy, even though Naruto showed no emotion it was less disconcerting than Sai. He just threw around the fake smiles like they were clone Jutsu. The boys appearance wasn't any different. He had pale white skin, and slender frame that was accompanied by straight dark hair and emotionless coal black eyes. He wore a long sleeved midriff shirt that exposed his flour coloured stomach, a black forehead-protector on his forehead, black gloves that exposed his index and thumb fingers, a small black jacket, black pants and shinobi sandals. He had a ninja-tool pouch and kunai holster at his leg. On his back he had a small bag and holstered sword, from the length it is likely a tanto.

"Stop smiling all the damn time! Its annoying!"shouted Mito. "At least if you are going to smile be honest about it."

Naruto turned his attention to Mito. Her hair was still the same blue violet, it was so long that it almost reached her waist. It was styled in a topknot with the rest of her hair cascading down her back, there were two jaw-length bangs on the side of face leaving her forehead open, with only a few strands of hair falling over it. Her eyes were deep violet eyes and three distinct whisker marks on each cheek.

She wore a, v-cut, long-sleeved, black shirt with ruby red flames along the bottom of the sleeves, a red sleeveless haori over that, with the Uzumaki emblem decorating the back of it. Around her neck she wore a necklace with a Uzumaki emblem charm and a three pronged kunai adorning it, a black forehead-protector around her left arm, a black skirt with black tight under-shorts, a kunai holster and ninja-tool pouch, and grey shin-guard shinobi sandals.

"Leave him, complain if he smiles like that while killing someone. Its harmless now." shrugged Naruto, tussling his scarlet red hair over his forehead where his forehead-protector sat shinning from the small beams of light that broke through the trees and reflected off the metal. The black cloth contrasted heavily with his scarlet spikes. He had two jaw-length bangs framing the sides of his face, they were wrapped in bandage keeping all the hair together.

His blue eyes were no longer as they once were, before they were blue and filled with hope, like the sky on a warm day, now they cold, and devoid of emotion, much like ice.

He wore a tight black shirt with elbow-length sleeves they had orange flame motives licking the bottom of the sleeve, under that he wore a long sleeved fishnet shirt for protection, black fingerless gloves with a metal plate behind the palm that had a stylised leaf carved into it, dark-red ankle length pants that were wrapped with black combat wraps at the hem. The pants had a kunai holster on each leg with combat wraps under the holsters and a ninja-tool pouch at the waist, black shinobi sandals and a Ninjatō strapped to his back.

Across them sat their jonin sensei, Raido Namiashi. He had dark brown spiky hair, dark brown eyes and a odd scar across his face that looked like veins branching off onto the left side of his face.

He wore a dark-blue Konoha forehead protector, a long sleeved navy-blue shirt with a red spiral on the side of each shoulder and a Konoha forest-green flak jacket over that with a red spiral on the back, navy blue ankle length pants with combat wraps on the ankles and dark-blue shinobi sandals. He had a kunai holster on each thigh and a ninja-tool pouch at his waist. He also had a kitana strapped his back, the handle was black, and so was the holster.

"My name is Raido Namiashi as you were no doubt informed I am your jonin-sensei. Please introduce yourselves." said Raido, in a professional manor.

"What exactly would you like to know? If we know that then we have a base point to work from Raido-sensei."said Naruto.

"Likes, dislikes, hobbies, short term and long term goals." said Raido succinctly.

"I'll start!" exclaimed Mito. "My likes are barbecue meat, pranking, my friends Kiba, Hinata, Shikamaru and Choji and my family. My hobbies are training, eating barbecue meat, hanging out with my friends and family and watching the princess gale series."she blushed at this. "My dislikes are people with sticks up their ass, my brother because he is mean, Naruto because he is cold, Shino because he is freaky" Naruto gave her a cold stare. "See! Just like that! Hmm. .er where was I. .oh right!"

"Time is money, hurry up."said Raido.

"Er right, Ino and Sakura because they fawn over Sasuke and Sasuke because he has a stick up his ass. My short term dreams are to become a better sister to my brother, and become a chunin. My long term dreams are to become the first female Hokage, become a kenjutsu master like my mom and maybe one day team up with her, and I want to find all my lost Uzumaki clan members."

"You forgot to say your name."said Sai.

"Oh right. I'm Mito Uzumaki-Namikaze future Hokage!" she grinned.

"Sai-san you're next."said Raido.

"My name is Sai, no last name. I don't have many likes besides drawing and my older brother. I do not have many dislikes besides those who take my drawings. My hobby is to draw. My short term goal is to become a chunin and I have not thought of a long-term goal."said Sai.

"And Naruto-san, its your turn." said Raido Namiashi.

"My name is Naruto Konoha and I am a bastard. I like training, ramen, hand-made deep-fried chips, Konohamaru, Shino and Saru-sama. I dislike a certain bear masked Anbu. My hobbies are training and practising calligraphy, I do little else. My short term goals are to become better at kenjutsu and become a chunin. My long term goal is to become an s-rank shinobi." said Naruto.

"My name is Raido Namiashi. I like obedience, efficiency, green tea and Onigiri. I dislike time-wasters, disloyalty and usurpers of authority, salted beef and and fish, as well those that believe that a mission can be completed without comrades. The mission is only complete when you have all your comrades with you at the end of it. My hobbies are architectural drawing, playing Shogi and kenjutsu kata meditation. My short term goals are to become a full-jonin and form get my students promoted to chunin. My long term goals are to become an s-rank shinobi and form my own jonin squad that has the same notoriety as the Ino-Shika-Cho trio, or maybe even the Densetsu no Sannin."

"Its nice too meet ya!"exclaimed Mito.

"A pleasure." said Sai as he close his eyes and smiled, prompting Mito to slap his head lightly. "only smile if you mean it."

"Its nice to meet you sensei."said Naruto.

"Now usually teams are given a test to see if they are ready to become genin." said Raido-sensei.

"But we already passed." said Mito.

"That test is only to sort the talented from the useless."he almost seemed amused. "Usually all the test requires is for jonin to deceive their students into working against each other when the true intention is for them to work together as a team. Other sensei may not elaborate on anything and merely instruct their students to find them, defeat them, hit them once or trap them. It ranges from jonin to jonin. However the prevalent factor in each test is always teamwork."explained Raido.

"Why are you telling us this?"asked Naruto shrewdly,"We're not getting a test or at the very least not one that requires teamwork or perhaps your ploy is to make us believe that no teamwork is required and then you fail us for not using teamwork."

"You are right you are not getting a test, and try not to be so paranoid all the time, or do, it may save your life, then again it may end it. No, I will give you all a month to develop your teamwork. A month to learn all your strengths and weaknesses and how to cover each others weaknesses. If you fail to impress me at the end of the month I will be placing you all in the reserve, and the remedial teamwork program." said Raido.

"But you cant do that! We passed."exclaimed Mito.

"You'll find that I can and I will. So best you stop complaining and start thinking on how you can develop teamwork."said Raido.

"Fine! Just you wait, we will have the best team in all the genin teams." said Mito.

"Good, but for now you will be fighting each other so that I can evaluate your skill. First it will be Mito-san and Sai-san, then Mito-san and Naruto-san and after that is completed it will be Sai-san and Naruto-san. Any questions? No? Good." said Raido.

* * *

 **(Kakashi - academy rooftop)**

A man with gravity defying silver-grey hair sat comfortably reading an orange book titled Icha-Icha - love tactics: the art of love. he read it with his lone, dark-brown, right eye. He had a forehead protector covering the other eye and a face-mask concealing the rest of his face and neck. He wore a long-sleeved dark blue shirt with a red spiral on each shoulder, a forest-green Konoha flak jacket with a red spiral motif on the back, fingerless black gloves with a metal plate behind the palm, long dark-blue pants with combat wraps around the ankles and the left thigh, on the left leg he had a kunai holster, and at his belt he had a ninja-pouch.

He discreetly raised his eye from his book as two chakra signatures entered the area. Suddenly there was a whirlwind of leaves and two teen boys appeared. The one was raven haired and the other blonde with streaks of red.

"So you can keep up?"smirked the raven haired boy arrogantly.

"As if it's you who needs to keep up with me, Sasuke."scoffed the blonde boy.

"Whatever Menma."said Sasuke turning to the side and taking a seat.

Kakashi took note of the blonde boy. He had shaggy blonde hair with two jaw line bangs that had red streaks running through them, bangs that cascaded over his navy blue forehead-protector, deep violet eyes and three whisker marks on each cheek.

'If not for the eyes, the red streaks and the whisker marks and arrogant smirk he could be your mini-clone sensei. You would be Gai the second coming or would Gai be Minato the second coming?' Kakashi internally shuddered.

The boy wore a casual red shirt, a long-sleeved black haori with a red spiral on the back with eight flame motif prongs extending out of the spiral that ended behind his knees, dark grey pants with pockets at the knees, grey shin-protectors and shinobi sandals. He had combat wraps around his ankles and left thigh, on each thigh he had a kunai holster strapped to it, and a ninja tool pouch at the belt.

The raven haired boy, Sasuke, his hair jutted out and fanned at the back, he had two jaw length bangs on the side of his face on each side, and another two - one left and one right - that cascaded over his dark-blue forehead protector. He had coal-black eyes and fair, unblemished skin.

He wore a dark-blue short-sleeved high collared shirt with a red and white fan insignia on the back, white arm warmers with a blue hem, knee length white pants with combat wraps on the right thigh with a dark blue kunai holster over it, a beige ninja-tool pouch at the waist, dark-blue shin-protectors with combat wraps and dark blue shinobi sandals.

Sasuke was practical if nothing else.

Suddenly a girl came bursting through the door. "Huh? What?! How did you guys even get here? Uh sorry I'm late."

Kakashi took note of the girl, she had long pink hair, bangs framing the side of her face, deep emerald eyes, and a larger than average forehead.

She wore a dark blue forehead-protector as a Alice band, a red qipao dress that split at the hip, a zip down the middle, curving at the side near her ribs, it had a white ring on the bottom of half and another one on her upper back, black biker shorts, with combat wraps on her thigh with a kunai holster strapped over it, a ninja-tool pouch at her waist and dark-blue shinobi sandals.

"Its fine, just take a seat will ya."sighed the masked jonin, internally he was secretly enjoying not being the late one for once in his life - his time with Obito as his teammate non-withstanding.

"Okay, now that we all together I want you to introduce yourselves." said Kakashi.

"But how sensei?"asked Sakura in confusion.

"You know likes, dislikes, dreams for the future, that sort of thing."said Kakashi.

"Sensei could you do it first so that we know what to do?"asked Sakura.

"Fine, fine."sighed Kakashi. "Well My name is Kakashi Hatake, I have no desire to tell you my likes and dislikes. Dreams for the future hmm. . ."Kakashi trailed off thoughtfully. "I have lots of hobbies."

'we only learned his name.' thought all three of the genin, tick marks present on their face.

"Okay pinky you're first."said Kakashi.

She huffed before answering. "My name is Sakura Haruno, the thing I like is. . .err the person who I like is. . .er"Sakura blushed as she gave Sasuke a longing look, but she was interrupted by Kakashi clearing his throat. "Right my dislikes are Ino-bunta, Naruto and Mito-baka, my hobbies are. ."she gave Sasuke another glance. "Err my dreams for the future are. . ." and her eyes went vacant.

Kakashi rolled his eye. 'Fangirl that's exactly what I need, more interested in love and boys than Ninjutsu.' he thought sarcastically. "You're up blondie"

"My name is Menma Uzumaki-Namikaze, my likes are Ramen, Training, my family, friends, Toads and my fathers Hiraishin no Jutsu. My dislikes are slackers, my sensei, Shikamaru, Choji and my sister. My hobbies are training, putting Sasuke in his place and making new ramen recipes. My goal for the future is to become Hokage. . ." said Menma, internally he thought. 'and to have a brother and sister tag team with Mito.'

"Next tall, dark and lonely."

Sasuke scowled at him. "My name is Sasuke Uchiha, I dislike a lot of things and I don't really like anything, I have no hobbies to speak of and I cant really call it a dream"Sasuke interlocked his fingers and gained a far-off look. "but I have an ambition. The resurrection of the Uchiha clan and to kill. . . a certain man."finished Sasuke darkly.

'Right so Menma is the only sane team member here, his major arrogance aside.' thought Kakashi while sweat-dropping. "Meet me tomorrow at five-hundred hours on training ground seven for your survival training. Oh and by the way don't eat breakfast, you might throw up. "

* * *

 **(Team eight)**

Team eight sat in their training ground, their sensei went by the name of Kurenai Yuhi. she had long raven hair that reached her mid-back, ruby red eyes, red lips, bountiful breasts and long shapely legs. She wore a Konoha forehead-protector that had dark-blue cloth, a mid-thigh length bandage-styled dress with thorn and vine patterns over it and a lone right red sleeve, under that she wore fishnet shirt that showed a decent amount of cleavage, combat wraps from her hands till her elbows, combat wraps around her thighs and dark blue shinobi sandals.

"My name is Kurenai Yuhi. I am going to introduce myself and I want you to do the same. You are already aware of my name, so my likes are Genjutsu, the colour crimson, Sake, Vodka and Takowasa. I dislikes perverts, those who underestimate kunoichi and Genjutsu. My Hobbes are going out for drinks and my dreams for the future are. . .to fight a certain man." said Kurenai, "Inuzuka-san you start."

"My name is Kiba Inuzuka, I like Akamaru, Mito, Menma, beef, steak and jerky. My dislikes are Naruto, Sasuke and foods that aren't chewy, my hobbies are training and taking Akamaru for walks, my dream for the future is to become a great hunter-nin." said Kiba.

Kurenai took careful note of Kiba's appearance. He had spiky brown hair, slitted brown eyes and red fang like makings on each cheek. He wore a dark-blue Konoha forehead-protector, a grey fur-lined hoody with the hood pulled over his head - on top of that a puppy with shaggy white fur rested. A fishnet undershirt, dark-grey that reached his mid-calf with combat wraps around his right thigh and a kunai holster over that, on his belt he had a ninja-tool pouch, and dark-blue shinobi sandals.

"Aburame-san you are next."

"My name is Shino Aburame I like wild grass salad, winter melon, moss green is my favourite colour, Naruto, my favourite flower is the chameleon flower, and my Kikaichu beetles. My dislikes are strong smelling foods, those that judge the Aburame clan based merely upon the fact that we host insects within our bodies, those that forget about me, those that judge Naruto because he is cold. My hobbies are collecting new insects for my hive, entomology, and training in my clan Jutsu. My dream for the future is to fight someone strong like Naruto, or the other top students from my graduating class, to become an excellent clan head, and a member of the Anbu special forces."

Kurenai took note of his appearance, he was quite tall for his age and had brown bushy hair. He wore a dark blue Konoha forehead-protector, dark sunglasses with circular lenses, a grey high-collared coat, dark-grey mid-calf length pants with combat wraps around his right leg and a kunai holster over that, a ninja-tool pouch at his waist and dark blue shinobi sandals.

"Next is Hinata."

She had jaw-length dark blue hair cut in a hime-style, pupil-less pale with hints of lavender eyes, a gentle face, rather large breasts for her age and shapely legs. She wore a dark blue Konoha forehead-protector around her neck, a beige hoody-jacket with fur around the cuffs and hem, and a fire emblem on the side of her shoulders, dark blue calf-length pants with combat wraps over the right thigh with a kunai holster over it, a beige ninja-tool pouch at the waist and dark blue shinobi sandals.

"M-my N-Name is Hinata Hy-Hyuga and my likes a-are Mito-chan, K-Kushina-sama, Yaku-kumo-chan, M-Menma-kun," she blushed at the last name. "My favourite foods are cinnamon rolls and zenzai, and my favourite c-colour is purple. My dislikes are shellfish, t-those that l-look down on me, and the division in my c-clan. My hobbies are f-flower pre-pressing, training and spe-spending time with Mito-chan and Ya-kumo-chan. My d-dream for the fu-future is to unite the Hyu-Hyuga clan."

"Very good, all of you." smiled Kurenai. "now I have to tell you three, that you are not genin, you have not taken the test as of yet." said Kurenai.

"What! But we graduated the academy." said Kiba in shock.

"I concur with Kiba-san's statement." said Shino.

"That does not make you a genin, merely genin material. So I will be administering your true genin test now. It is very simple to be frank, all that you have to do is find me. Good luck." and she disappeared in a cloud of hazy pink mist.

"Come on we have to find her! There is no way that I'm going to fail!" exclaimed Kiba.

"H-hai."said Hinata meekly.

"I agree wholeheartedly."

* * *

 **(Team ten)**

Asuma took a drag from his smoke and exhaled a plume of smoke, sighing in bliss. The jonin had spiky raven hair, dark brown eyes, a square nose, and dark facial hair running along his jawline till his chin. He wore a dark blue forehead-protector, a dark blue long-sleeved shirt with a red spiral on the side of each shoulder and combat wraps around the biceps, black bands around each wrist, a forest green flak-jacket with a red spiral on the back, dark blue ankle-length pants with combat wraps around the ankles and thighs, a beige ninja-tool pouch, a white sash with a black circle in the middle with the kanji for fire in the middle, and dark blue shinobi sandals.

"My name is Asuma Sarutobi I will be introducing myself as well as sharing a little bit of my awesomeness, after I'm done I want you to do the same." Asuma grinned in suave way, but Ino merely snorted.

"Something wrong Yamanaka." asked Asuma affronted.

"Any man who needs to act cool isn't cool." snarked Ino.

"Oh you thought I was cool back there? I didn't realise I was being cool, you'll soon notice that cool just happens with me Yamanaka I have no control whatsoever over my awesomeness." grinned Asuma, as a gale of wind suddenly blew into the training field and ruffled his hair in slow-motion. "Anyway let me begin, my name is Asuma Sarutobi as I have already mentioned, I like Shogi, a certain Kunoichi, my time as the fire Daimo's twelve guardian ninja, sausage and soba with tororo. My dislikes are those who question my undeniable studliness," he said shooting Yamanaka a pointed look. "asparagus and disloyalty. My hobbies are trying new brands of cigarettes and making my own blends of tobacco and playing Shogi. My dreams for the future. . .maybe one day I'll settle down and have children, and to apprentice someone in my personal Jutsu."

Choji stopped munching on his chips and introduced himself. "My name is Choji Akimichi, I like Shikamaru, my clan, Korean-styled Barbecue and blue butterflies. My dislikes are anything I cant eat, being called "Fat" and anyone who messes with my friends and family. My hobbies are trying new types of sweets. And my goals for the future is to become the clan head of the Akimichi clan and for this generation of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio to surpass the previous generation." said Choji.

Choji was a robust boy with spiky brown hair swirls on his cheeks and narrow brown eyes. He wore a forehead-protector that was styled in a way that allowed two tufts of brown hair to sticks out from his head, a short-sleeve green haori, a white scarf, a white shirt with the Kanji for food on it, combat wraps on his forearms, black shorts, combat wraps around his right leg with a kunai holster strapped over it, a beige ninja-tool pouch at his waist, combat wraps around his calves, dark blue shinobi sandals.

"Yamanaka you're up."

"My name is Ino Yamanaka, I like bush clovers, cherry tomatoes, pudding, the colour purple, my killer figure and Sasuke-kun!"she flushed cherry red. "I dislike smoke-house sensei, sashimi, eggplant, the colour pink and Sakura-forehead. My hobbies are shopping and tending to the flowers in my clans flower shop. My dreams for the future is to become the future lady Uchiha!"

Asuma sighed 'Fangirl.' he took note of her appearance. She had platinum blonde hair in a pony tail that reached her waist, b-cup breasts - quite impressive for her age, and slender wore a high collared purple midriff blouse, combat wraps around her abdomen, white arm-warmers, a purple apron-skirt, combat wraps around her thighs, a kunai holster strapped to her right leg, a ninja-tool pouch attached to her waist and dark blue shinobi sandals.

"Nara, you're up." said Asuma.

"Tch, troublesome."sighed said Nara. "My name is Shikamaru Nara, I like watching the clouds, Shogi, sleeping, not expending energy, Mackerel and kelp and the colour white. I dislike doing anything I don't have to, like right now. Boiled eggs and troublesome situations. My hobbies are playing Shogi, napping and watching the clouds. My dream for the future is to live an average life with an okay salary, marry a regular girl that's neither a hag nor a beauty, have two children, first a girl then a boy, then I'll retire when my oldest child got married and my son could fend for himself, then spend my days playing Shogi and finally die of old age before my wife."

'fucking lazy ass Nara.' Asuma took note of his appearance. He had shoulder-length hair tied into a pony tail that resembled a pineapple and narrow brown eyes. He wore a pair of silver hooped earrings, a short sleeve grey jacket, a fishnet shirt with green lining, a dark blue Konoha forehead protector tied around his left upper-arm, mid-calf length brown pants, combat wraps around his right leg, a kunai holster strapped to his right leg, a beige ninja-tool pouch and shinobi sandals.

"Okay now that all of that is out of the way, its time for your genin test, my cute little graduates."said Asuma.

"What genin test, we passed." said Shikamaru.

"Oh no, that little thing was to set aside the awesome from the useless. So you are all awesome, but awesome isn't enough to make you genin - only I was that awesome - anyway, the first one who is able to capture me will become part of my team while the other two will fail." said Asuma.

"Wait you can't just throw two of us aside like weltering flowers!"exclaimed Ino.

"You will find that I can and I will."said Asuma. "So you best start-" Asuma suddenly jumped back as shadow - that slithered like a snake - struck at his own shadow.

"Kagemane? Not bad but I'm a jonin, so you better step up your game." said Asuma.

"Troublesome. . ."

* * *

 **(Training ground six - Team six - Mito vs Sai)**

Sai and Mito stood across from one another, Mito anxiously hovered he hand near her kunai holster. Sai calmly waited for the signal to begin his hand inch to his back ever so slightly.

"Begin!"

Mito instantly grabbed the kunai from her holster threw them at Sai, by the time shed had released the throwing weapons Sai had already drew his tip-less tanto and he used it to deflect everything single kunai.

Mito took advantage of his preoccupation and made a criss-cross hand seal. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." a couple plumes of smoke later and there were eleven Mito's in place, and they were charging at Sai.

Sai ignored the clones and ran to the centre where he assumed Mito to be. Instead he was blind-sided by a sharp kick to his back by one of the clones that he had passed by. "Solid clones?" he asked in surprise.

"Yeah, how do you like that. It's my Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. Pretty neat huh?" she smiled, "clones, I think its time for omnidirectional Shuriken barrage, what do you think?"

"Hai!"they said in unison, while pulling out Shuriken from their ninja tool pouch and launching them at Sai.

Sai blanched for a moment, then he went through hand seals. Tiger - Ox. When the Shuriken made contact Sai puffed into smoke and a log remained in his place. "what where did he go?"

Suddenly Sai ran at one of the Mito's with his tanto in hand, this Mito shouted in surprise, and Sai swung his blade at her cutting into her neck, she puffed into smoke and another Mito appeared behind him with a kunai to his throat. "Don't move an inch I've got you beat." grinned Mito.

Sai faux-smiled before disappearing in a spray of ink, and that's when Mito felt cold metal pressing against her throat, Sai took it one step further by pulling her arm backwards and twisted her wrist. "Sorry about that grapes. But its over, call off your solid clones."

She scowled at him. "Get him! Get him now!" Sai's eyes widened in surprise as he had to jump to the side to avoid a kunai to the eye.

"You think that's enough to beat me? You're dead wrong, I'm only getting started." she grinned as he avoided kunai after kunai.

She pulled out four Shuriken from her ninja-tool pouch and threw them at him at different intervals not aiming anywhere in particular, only his general location. She then flipped through hand seals, much slower than Sai. "Lightning release: Arc Lightening."

Blue lightning began to arc between the four Shuriken that surround Sai at random direction and intervals. He jumped to the side trying to get out of the Jutsu range, but he was zapped by the Shuriken to his right, it hit his arm, and it fell limply at his side "Ahurg!" luckily it wasn't his sword hand or he would really be in trouble.

He dashed to the side, his limp arm swinging to and fro as he ran, Mito's shadow clones peppering him with kunai and Shuriken, not giving him any room to regroup. "Just give up Sai! All you can do is run around like a fake-smiling idiot."

Sai gave her blank look before closing his eyes and giving her another one his faux-smiles. 'I'm starting to get feeling back into my arm, once I can form seal I'll end it.'

"I'll wipe that smile off your face if its the last thing I do!"screamed Mito, her clones charged at Sai, he dodged and weaved in-between the clones, dragging his tanto across a few of the clones' unprotected side. He knew which was the real Mito, he had been keeping track of her the whole time.

Suddenly he heard one of the shadow clones shout. "Lightning release :Thunderbolt." he jumped to the side purely on instinct, only just avoiding a flash of blue lightning that would have impacted with his back.

Keeping a wary eye on the clones Sai went through hand seals so fast that none of the Mito's could do anything about it. "Genjutsu: descending hell technique."

Suddenly the Mito original began to feel the the atmosphere heating up, she only had five clones left, she would have to make a few more to keep Sai on his toes. It was getting warmer still, she took a glance into the sky to see where the sun was, and that's when she noticed a great ball of fire descending from the sky.

Sai took advantage of her surprise and pulled out a scroll, a brush and ink from his bag. He unrolled the scroll and drew five wavy lines onto the scroll and made a hand seal. "Ninpou: Choju Giga(Ninja Art: Super Beast Imitating Drawing)" five snake-like constructs slithered off of the page, as Sai dodged a punch from one of the clones. "What the hell did you do to the boss! She's going crazy."

Sai ignored her and stabbed her with his tanto. When he rose all the clones were bound by the ink snakes and Sai made quick work of destroying the clones.

"Ahhhh! It burns! It burns!"screamed Mito in agony as the ball of flames crashed into her and burned her no matter where she rolled she couldn't escape the flames.

Sai took pity on her and ordered his snakes to wrap around her, once she was suitably bound he cancelled the illusion. "W-What?! I was burning and it-"

"It was a Genjutsu. Anyway I have bound you and so you lose." said Sai tonelessly. "Will you give up? Or should I knock you out?"

"Dammit! I hate Genjutsu! It's the bane of my existence." she screamed trying to throw a temper tantrum, but only managing to wiggle about like a worm. "Fine! You win, I give up."

Sai faux-smiled, and made a hand seal, the ink snakes burst into splashes of ink and Mito was released from her bonds. "Winner! Sai!"

"Finally I'm out of the icky snake things! What were they made of? Ink?" she shuddered.

"Yes, yes they were."answered Sai truthfully.

She looked positively green,

"I'll give Mito-san a chance to recover from the previous fight before she and Naruto-san fight." said Raido.

Naruto nodded, he already knew how to beat her as quickly and cleanly as possible. If it was not quick and clean, she would become too troublesome to deal with, that and her tendency to attack from long range. The clones are probably not that durable. That his why they attack from a distance, it would conserve chakra - that Jutsu no doubt takes a lot on its own - and keep the opponent distracted enough for her to launch the lightning based Jutsu. She is quite impressive, her only problem is she takes too long to enact her plans, she is way to emotionally charged and she gloats way too much.

* * *

 **(training ground 8 - team 8)**

The three clan heirs trudged through the forest, Kiba taking point. "She is this way, I can smell it."

"Are you certain Kiba-san? I do not see any tracks to support this statement." said Shino.

"Are you saying my nose is faulty?" he growled, becoming feral.

"Ano Ki-Kiba-san, I think Shino-san only w-worries be-because she is a jo-jonin, and s-she would know a-about your c-clan abilities."said Hinata trying to diffuse the situation.

"Well he isn't wrong."Kiba grudgingly admitted. "Even Shunshin leaves tracks, my mom and uncle said so."

"Tell me Kiba-san what do you smell? And can you tell me where it ends."said Shino.

"I think its Kurenai-sensei. . .but the thing is it doesn't end, it just keeps going and going almost like it has no end." said Kiba thoughtfully.

"Hinata-san can you activate your Byakugan? Why? Because I fear that Kiba-san is under a Genjutsu."said Shino.

Kiba gained a tick mark.

"Byakugan." she made a hand seal, and veins bulged around her eyes, and they became much more focussed.

"Kiba-kun is surrounded b-by foreign ch-chakra."said Hinata. "Should I-I-I release him from the Genjutsu?"

"Yes, you seem reluctant to keep your Byakugan active for long periods of time, we will need his nose. Why? I failed to tag Kurenai-sensei with a female Kikaichu beetle." said Shino.

She made a ram hand seal, then touched Kiba's shoulder. "Genjutsu: Kai!" she pulsed her chakra into him, releasing his Genjutsu. She did the same to Akamaru and they were off.

They turned around following the true scent this time around. "Hinata it would be prudent for you to periodically check for Genjutsu. You and Kiba are the only two that are likely to be targeted, however if you activate your Byakugan you will notice it straight away." said Shino,

"Why wouldn't she use them on you?"asked Kiba.

"She could, but the Kikaichu that reside within in me would pick up a disturbance in my chakra, and my beetles cannot be placed under Genjutsu. Why? Because they lack the required components for a Genjutsu to take hold." said Shino.

"Sheesh do you always have to nit-pick?"asked Kiba.

Shino ignored him. "How far is she?"

"Not too far, maybe two kilometres out." said Kiba.

"Hinata check Kiba for Genjutsu, I'll also send my Kikaichu ahead to scout out the area." said Shino.

"Byakugan!" she yelled. "H-He is c-clear."

They continued their journey for another two kilometres, before Shino smelled something foul. He turned his attention to Kiba, who had fell to his knees, his eyes watering and he seemed to be gagging. "I-It st-stinks"

Akamaru whined in agreement, while he pawed at his nose.

"A stink pellet of some type? It is not an illusion or my Kikaichu would of noticed the disturbance in my chakra.. That means she must of been near us!" his eyes widened, though they couldn't be seen. "Hinata-san, use your Byakugan to scan our surroundings, she must be close."

"H-hai Byakugan!" she scanned their surroundings, she noticed a flicker of motion to her right, a human figure with the same figure as their sensei disappeared in a blur of motion.

"Sh-She di-disappeared that way." said Hinata pointing to the east. 'I never knew that Kurenai-san was this strong.'

"Okay good, we will pursue her. Help me pick up Kiba, we need to get him away from this stench." Hinata nodded in understanding as she picked up Akamaru and placed him inside her jacket. She swung his one arm around her neck, while Shino did the same with his other arm and they took off running.

They ran a kilometre with Kiba, when he was finally able to breath freely. "Oh sweet air!"

Kiba then turned his attention to Kurenai who was standing stoically in front of them.

"We found you!" he shouted as he charged her. He was tackled out of the way by Shino just before he reached her. A good thing too, because there was now a group of Shuriken taking up the space that he had previously occupied.

"Another Genjutsu!?" screamed Kiba, unknowingly echoing the sentiments of a former classmate. "I hate them!"

"Kiba-san you must try to relax and not act so harshly. She may escape us again." said Shino.

"Yeah I guess you're right. Check me for Genjutsu I have a scent." said Kiba.

"Hinata-san."

"O-on it! Byakugan!" she scanned him. "No Genjutsu."

"Where is she?"asked Shino.

"Near the place that we met."said Kiba, following her scent.

"I'll send my Kikaichu ahead, to make sure." said Shino. They traversed the forest using their agility to avoid tricky roots and stones in the ground. When they finally found her, she was leisurely leaning against a tree.

Hinata couldn't believe her eyes, so she activated her Byakugan to make sure that she was the real article and not an illusion. "There isn't any need for that Hinata-chan, you all have thoroughly impressed me. So you all pass."

"Why sensei? You could of just kept running." said Kiba.

"Because you accomplished the true objective of this test. Which was teamwork, I deliberately set up a trap for Kiba to stall you from tracking me with his nose after you discovered my Genjutsu and so that you three would be in the position where you had to choose to leave an injured teammate behind to accomplish the mission, or take the teammate with you - even though they are a hindrance - and possibly fail the mission. You chose to take Kiba with you, and thus you passed."

"Whew that's a load off my back."Kiba sagged in relief.

"Now I must ask you to not speak of this test for at the very least a week to any of your friends in your graduating class. If they find out that teamwork is the secret objective they will not grow as shinobi." said Kurenai sternly. "Am I clear?"

"Hai sensei." they shuddered in fear - except for Shino he remained as stoic as ever.

"Good, now lets go out for lunch to celebrate passing. Any suggestions?" asked Kurenai.

"Ano, Ku-Kurenai-sensei could we g-go t-to Yamamoto's sweets, sugar and coffee?"asked Hinata.

"Any objections?" asked Kurenai, her tone implied that even if they had objections they should keep them to themselves.

"N-no Kurenai-sensei." said Kiba fearfully.

She turned to Shino who gave her a stoic look, though she couldn't tell. "I'll come if you wish me to, however I will not be eating there, unless they have a salad or a un-sweet fruit dish."

She nodded. "Acceptable."

"Y-You d-don't have to come on my a-account Shino-san." said Hinata nervously.

"Don't worry Hinata-san we are teammates now, that means that we make sacrifices for one another." said Shino.

"Yeah! So next time you all better sacrifice and get me some big juicy steak."exclaimed Kiba, grinning widely at Hinata.

"T-Thank you Kiba-kun, Shino-kun." smiled Hinata shyly.

"There is no need for gratitude, we are your teammates. This is our duty." said Shino.

"What he said."Kiba shrugged. "Although you could thank Akamaru by getting him some delicious dog treats."

"Woof!" squeaked Akamaru.

"I told you! I cant get you chocolate its poisonous for you."said Kiba in return to his dog.

"Woof! Woof!"

"Okay fine, I'll get you some sweets, but only a little." said Kiba after his dog let loose another round of barks.

Shino could be seen moving his shoulder up and down ever so slightly. Anyone who knew him or any Aburame would be able to tell that he was chuckling at the ninken and his ninja partner.

* * *

 **(Training ground six - team six - Naruto vs Mito)**

Naruto stood across from Mito, waiting for Raido to give them the go ahead for the battle to commence. He tensed his leg muscles, his arms tensed at his side, anticipating a swift attack.

'If I fight her 'fairly' this will be a long fight. I need to hit her where it hurts, and strike hard and fast.' Naruto strategized.

'I'll just use more clones, and have my clones use more lightning Jutsu on him.' were Mito's thoughts.

"Begin!"shouted Raido.

Naruto brought his hands together and blitzed through hand seals, only two required.

Mito brought her hands into a familiar cross hand seal.

"Genjutsu: Sea of Leaves." said Naruto, before Mito could complete her Jutsu. Mito was shocked to see a whirlwind of leaves encircling her, and obscuring her view of Naruto, or anything else for that matter. All she saw was green, and more green.

Naruto took advantage of her surprise, and weakness to Genjutsu. He sprinted towards her pulling out a kunai from his holster. As he got nearer he could feel that his chakra was still deeply rooted in her cerebral nervous system, her chakra was wild, chaotic and vast, but that didn't matter. All the chakra in world couldn't stop a Genjutsu, even a simple one.

Naruto rammed the metal ring of the kunai into Mito's temple, simultaneously dispelling the illusion and knocking her out.

"She is strong, but she has one major weakness." said Naruto simply.

"Winner! Naruto!"exclaimed Raido unnecessarily. "And yes, this something that she will have to work on, her weakness to Genjutsu will be a weak-link to the team if you all pass."

"So, are we going to get to the next fight? I didn't expend much energy in the last fight." said Naruto.

"Yes, let me just heal Mito and wake her up." said Raido.

Raido knelt down and placed his palms over Mito's temple, he went through hand seals and his hands flickered with blue chakra for a moment before it morphed into green. He held it over her temple for a few seconds before that chakra faded. "Fortunately she is a fast healer, and it didn't take much on my part to heal her."

Raido then placed his index and middle fingers against her temple and they glowed green for a moment, and Mito's eyes suddenly flickered open.

"What! What happened!?" shouted Mito, as she shot up from the ground, already regretting the action as she clutched her head and grimaced. "Oww! All I saw was green leaves, then pain and then nothing."

"Naruto placed you under a Genjutsu as the fight started, and then he knocked you out with the rear-end of his kunai." said Raido. "I healed you somewhat and then I woke you up."

"I hate Genjutsu! I'll get you back for that. I wont be weak to Genjutsu forever!" she exclaimed, ignoring the throbbing in her head.

"I certainly hope not."said Naruto.

She stuck at her tongue at him and then Raido said. "Naruto and Sai will be fighting now, I woke you up so that you could watch."

"Thanks sensei! You're the best! Now I get to watch these Genjutsu-using-pansies beat each other up. Its almost as good some nice barbecued meat!"exclaimed Mito in excitement.

After Mito and Raido cleared away from the field, Sai took his place across Naruto. They eyed each other warily, knowing full well that they had no weaknesses that they could exploit from the get go. Sai knew of no weaknesses that he could exploit from the get go, since he had seen none of Naruto's abilities.

"Begin!"

Naruto and Sai warily eyed each other as they circled the training field, Sai suddenly dashed forward, aiming a kick at Naruto's face, he barely got his arms up to block the kick.

Naruto ducked under a punch that was sent his way, but failed to see the rising knee that crashed into his jaw, from there Sai, littered his body with a body shot combo. A fist to the ribs, another to the kidney and finished it off with a swift kick to the stomach that sent him tumbling backwards.

He rolled out the impact of the kick a little longer than necessary, before he sprung up letting loose a hail of kunai, dead centre on Sai's position. Only for him to burst into a great spray of ink.

Naruto looked around warily, when suddenly a figure obscured the sun, and their heel came crashing into his shoulder, it sent him barrelling backwards harshly into the thick trunk of a tree.

Naruto resisted the urge to grunt in pain. "Give up now Naruto-san, you cant beat me. You are too slow." said Sai in a tone that wasn't mocking, merely fact. "and you do not have the numbers to slow me down like grapes did."

"No." Naruto drew a kunai launching it at Sai who pulled his own kunai out to lazily swat it way. Naruto wasn't done there however, he blitzed through hand seals before clapping his hands together. "Wind Release: Gale Palm." and suddenly the speed of his kunai was boosted by the gust of wind that he emitted from his palms.

Naruto ran forward as Sai jumped back to avoid the attack. When he reached the white boy he lashed out with a straight punch, which Sai easily saw and blocked, only for his hand to phase right through the arm, suddenly another lashed out at Sai, this one from Naruto waist, in the form of an uppercut.

It caught unaware, forcing his jaw closed and sending a jarring spike of pain through his whole face. Naruto capitalised on that, and sent a snap-kick into Sai's ribs that the boy didn't even see coming, he grunted, and then Naruto went through hand seals. "Wind Release: Bladed Knuckles."

Naruto punched Sai once more, but this time the black haired youth had the sense to block it, except he belatedly noticed that there was a slight glow on the boys knuckles. When the fist impacted his arm, he suddenly felt a stinging sensation, and then he felt blood trickled down his arms.

"This isn't any wind Jutsu that I have ever heard of." said Sai.

"Nor would you have." said Naruto not giving him any respite, sending another punch his way, Sai dodged having learned his lesson. "I created it myself."

Naruto shot forward cocking his fist back, Sai dodged to the side, having already predicted the path the punch would take, unfortunately it was a fake-out, and Naruto lashed out with a spinning back-kick to the ribs. "Spinning leaf."

Sai grunted in pain from the blow to the ribs, then Naruto took opportunity that was presented to him and buried his wind encrusted knuckles into Sai's exposed midriff, giving him a thin cut across his pale stomach.

He hissed in pain from both the sting of the cut, and the force of the punch to his stomach. Naruto then launched another and another, until Sai was littered with small stinging cuts all over his upper-body. His clothes had a series of incisions wherever Naruto hit him, not even his face was saved from the onslaught of Naruto's punches.

By the time Sai had gathered his wits enough to avoid or block the blows Naruto had already dealt too much damage. "You should give up Sai."

"These pinpricks are nothing."said Sai, although his pained tone showed evidence to the contrary.

Naruto was sweating heavily, he cancelled the wind technique and drew his sword. 'It takes a lot of chakra to maintain that blade on my knuckles for so long. I've never had to control it for so long, and I ended up losing chakra.'

Sai drew his own blade, trying to ignore the stinging sensation that littered his entire body, they charged at each other, though Sai was noticeably slower than before, no doubt the small cuts that Naruto's Jutsu had inflicted throughout his body had taken their toll.

They clashed their blades together, parrying and striking. Sai had much more technique than Naruto's rudimentary swings and parries, but the constant stinging all over his body stopped him from taking advantage of that. Naruto cut across Sai's stomach, the sword in a one-handed grip, Sai easily parried the strike, but Naruto kicked him hard into the shin, causing hiss of pain to erupt from Sai's lips, but he never buckled. Much to Naruto's surprise. Sai used this as an opportunity to slice his blade across Naruto's unprotected stomach. Only Naruto's fishnet-wire undershirt stopped the cut from being fatal, still it was a cut nonetheless.

"Arrgh!" Naruto grunted as he brought his hand to his pained torso, blood running down from the cut and soaking his shirt.

This brought a smile to Sai's face. Not a true one, but as close as he was going to get to one. Not wasting his chance Sai, brought the blade across Naruto's arm and cut him across his shoulder and upper arm, Naruto hissed once more, and then Sai finished it by bringing the pommel of his sword into Naruto temple.

Or rather he thought he had, Naruto burst into a plume of smoke and a log took his place. "Damn you!" Naruto roared from behind him his sword a flame with chakra, though it seemed thin and sharp.

Sai turned around and blocked the blow with his sword only for it to be carved in two by both the force and cutting edge behind the chakra. Naruto's eyes then widened at what he almost did, if that had been Sai, he would be in fatal state, he brushed that thought aside, and slammed the pommel of his sword into Sai's jaw. Knocking him out, he brought another pommel smash to his head for good measure, as he breathed raggedly from the exertion that the brutal fight brought on.

For a moment Naruto almost wished that he had been the one that was knocked into unconscious. Then he wouldn't have to feel the pain of the cuts to his stomach and arm respectively.

"Winner! Naruto!" exclaimed Raido.

"Wow Naruto! Now I don't feel so bad for losing to you. You're awesome." said Mito in awe.

"Thanks." Naruto grunted. "Sensei can you heal me like you healed Mito?"

"I can give you a patch job, but after that you will have to get to the hospital so that they heal you properly, I have more skill in killing than in healing."said Raido. "You better go to the hospital, is that clear?"

"Hai sensei, just hurry up and heal Sai and I so that we can get to the hospital." said Naruto, in annoyance. Showing emotion only the second time that day.

Raido walked over to Naruto and asked him to sit, he placed his hands over his stomach and his hands glowed blue before flickering to green. He held his hands there for several seconds, the chakra was warm and comforting, the pain began to dull and the bleed stopped, he did the same to his shoulder before the chakra flickered away. "I stopped the bleeding and dulled the pain, thankfully you seem to be a fast healer. Must it will open up eventually, so you better get to the hospital, Mito and I will take you there to make sure neither of you get lost."

"I know the way sensei." said Naruto stubbornly.

"I know you do."

Naruto grumbled. "Whatever."

"Oh brighten up Naruto, it only the hospital." said Mito cheerfully.

"People die in hospitals, it is not a place that people brighten up in, its a place where they dull down and die." said Naruto, brushing off her cheerfulness with cold hard truth.

* * *

 **(Training ground 10 - Team 10)**

Ino threw a trio of kunai at Asuma, he swiftly dodged them, but before she could go any further she simply stopped in her tracks. Upon further inspection, a long dark shadow was connected to her shadow, a long dark shadow that lead to Shikamaru Nara.

"Shikamaru what the hell!" exclaimed Ino.

"First, stop being so troublesome, if the first one to capture Asuma-sensei gets an apprenticeship, do your really think that we would sit idly by while you get it? And second all masters have to have already taken a full genin team before they can take any students as their apprentice. This is Konoha and we use the standard team of genin. Namely three genin and one jonin. The test is a farce, he wants us to work as a team before he passes us. If one of us fail, we all fail, or have you forgotten that we are the next generation of the Ino-Shika-Cho."

"Now that you mentioned it, that does make much more sense." said Ino bashfully.

"Just because you know the objective, doesn't mean you pass." said Asuma, as he jumped forward, Shikamaru jumped to the side and forwards, Ino doing the same. He released his hold on her, and instead sent his shadow to Asuma's shadow. Completely restricting the man.

"You are trapped Asuma-sensei, we used teamwork, so do we pass?"asked Shikamaru.

"Maybe if this was the real me, but unfortunately I am but a humble clone." said Asuma before dispersing into a cloud of smoke.

"Dammit! We almost had him!" grumbled Ino.

"Don't be so sure Ino-chan." Asuma's voice echoing all around them. "Who is to say whether or not I planned that exact outcome from the beginning? Who is to say indeed." the voice was coloured in amusement. "Now that was me being cool, if you do pass. . .I may pass on my coolness to you."

"I'll kill him!"screeched Ino.

Choji continued to eat his potato chips, it was a new combo, a chilli-chicken-tomato flavour. He wondered what the next flavour would be, but he brushed that thought aside as suddenly as he had it. He needed to focus now, on how to catch Asuma-sensei, he could use the Bunshin(clone), Henge(transformation), Kawarimi(substitution) and Bubun Baika no Jutsu(partial multi-size Jutsu. Shikamaru had his Kagemane no Jutsu(shadow imitation Jutsu) and Ino had her Shintenshin no Jutsu(mind transfer Jutsu).

"Shikamaru why don't we combine our Jutsu?" asked Choji. "The clan ones I mean."

"Well they do compliment each other, that's why are fathers are so famous,"said Shikamaru thoughtfully. "Okay, I'll distract him with my Kagemane(shadow imitation), Choji hit him hard where I herd him, then Ino will use the Shintenshin(mind transfer), and I will follow that up with Kagemane(shadow imitation), and then Ino can release her Jutsu."

"Okay lets go."

Ino, Choji and Shikamaru ventured off into the forest in search of Asuma Sarutobi. The forest around the training area was littered with great trees, and small trees, all of them had twisted roots that snaked through the forest grounds making any sort of journey through the forest, in the words of Shikamaru "Troublesome".

'He has been a Konoha ninja for years, this must be like a second home to him. He could create an ambush whenever he wanted to, I'll have to work fast.' they soon came upon a clearing Shikamaru studiously ignored, they kept to the edge of clearing until Shikamaru lobbed three smoke pellets into the forest. One to his left, the other in the clearing, and the last was some way in front of him. He grabbed Ino and Choji jumping left and the forward then right. He quickly took off into the smoke. "Shikamaru-" Ino started.

"Not now." he whispered harshly. He fingered his ninja-tool pouch, taking inventory of each of his tools, merely by the feel of them. He quickly got to work, sending Choji into the bushes. While he worked near a tree he spoke to Ino. "When he arrives, all I want you to do is throw Shuriken and kunai at him wherever he dodges. Don't answer me."

Shikamaru finished his work just as the smoke cleared, they were in the clearing that Shikamaru had been studiously ignoring. Across from them stood Asuma, a confident grin marring his face. "What ever you did, just know that it wont be enough, of that I'm certain."

"Don't be so sure." Shikamaru said coolly. "Kagemane" it came out as nothing but a whisper, Asuma heard it nonetheless. A shadow snaked out from Shikamaru's own, it was swift in its approach, but Asuma easily dodged to the side, and Ino threw a kunai where he dodged, the jonin caught it by the ring and returned it to the sender only for a shadow to come mere inches from his own, he avoided the shadow just in the nick of time, Shikamaru moved to the side with Ino to keep Asuma in his line of sight.

"That shadow of yours and her pathetic throwing skills aren't enough, and don't think that I don't know about that little ambush that you have planned with Choji." said Asuma.

"Just because you know about it, doesn't mean you can stop it." Shikamaru fired back, settling back into the rat seal and sending his shadow at Asuma, looping around, and striking from the side. Asuma quickly avoided the deceptively fast shadow. Although he didn't notice the shadow joining the shadows that the sun and trees cast, and then suddenly Shikamaru ran across the training ground while Ino peppered him with kunai and Shuriken.

"Just a little more." said Shikamaru as he sent his shadow snaking off after Asuma, he jumped back, Ino sent a trio of Shuriken at him, he deflected each and everyone of them with smooth ease demonstrating that he had earned the title of jonin. "Choji now!"

Asuma turned to the left, fully expecting the attack, except Choji jumped out from the bushes to the right his arm enlarged to massive proportions. "Bubun Baika no Jutsu(Partial multi-size Jutsu!) Rahh!"he jumped back to avoid it, Choji's fist crashed into the ground creating a small crater and kicking up a large amount of dust. Then the sound of metal blades cutting through the air could be heard.

"What! How did he even!"Asuma exclaimed, his voice riddled with shock.

When the dust cleared, Asuma was entangled in wire that was anchored in a tree by Shuriken and Kunai, others were anchored into the ground around him leaving him with nowhere to go. Not one too be caught unaware Shikamaru had moved closer to Asuma, his shadow connected to Asuma's.

"So, do we pass?" asked Shikamaru, he was breathing raggedly.

"You pass."said Asuma looking at Shikamaru in awe, there may of been teamwork involved but Asuma knew deep down it was Shikamaru's masterful planning that had given them the win.

Shikamaru let out a grateful sigh before he promptly went limp, his shadow retreating from Asuma's own and he hit the forest floor.

"Damn I wanted to know how in the blazes he did that!" Asuma sagged in dejection, though it wasn't noticeable in his current condition. "Could one of you cut me down?"

Ino placed a finger on her chin in a thoughtful pose. "No I don't think we will. we'll let you stay here a little longer, that'll teach you to treat your students with dignity."

Asuma eyed her dryly. "You do know that when I get free, I'll just torture you and call it training as is my right as your sensei. So will you cut me down?"

"Fine." she huffed. "but I wont forget about this."

"Nor do I expect you too." he replied while Choji and and Ino cut him free. "But we have to take Shikamaru to the hospital, he may be suffering from chakra exhaustion."

Little did they know that Shikamaru wouldn't be the only genin that would be admitted to the hospital that day.

* * *

 **(Next day - 8 a.m - Training ground seven - team seven)**

Menma sat Boredly against one of the trees in training ground seven. Sasuke sat against another while Sakura shot him looks of longing. They had been here since five in the morning waiting for their sensei to show up for this survival training. Menma had failed to follow his sensei's advice on not eating breakfast, his mother stopped that at the head and said if he didn't eat breakfast he would be leaving the house. The choice was obvious.

Menma suddenly looked up, feeling a change in the atmosphere. There stood their sensei, only he and Sasuke had noticed his presence. Menma was getting anxious.

"Kakashi-sensei." said Menma in greeting. At one point he had been quite familiar with the man, but he disappeared off on missions for so long that Menma almost forgot what the man looked like. "You're late, we were supposed to meet here at five."

"Sorry about that, but my alarm broke, and when I finally woke up my water was turned off, so I went to the onsen, but on my way there a black cat crossed my path so I had to take the other way around." said Kakashi in a solemn tone.

"You're just a big liar!"screeched Sakura.

Kakashi eye smiled. "Anyway, your survival training for today is called the 'True Genin Exam' otherwise know as the bell test."

"What do you mean 'true genin exam'? We already passed our genin exam."said Sakura.

"Yeah Kakashi-sensei, don't tell me you were late to the genin squad meeting too?"asked Menma.

"No I was on time." said Kakashi. 'your father bloody teleported me to the meeting to make sure.' he grouched internally. "Now then, the genin exam only thins out the herd so to speak. So, it is up to jonin sensei to give their students tests of their choosing to decide whether prospective genin are ready to actually become genin."

"What's the test?" asked Sasuke, a grin marring his face. He loved a challenge.

"You have until noon to take these bells from my hip." said Kakashi gesturing to two silver bells joined by a red string that were dangling at his hip. "Whoever among you does not get the bell, will be sent back to the academy."

"You cant do that!" exclaimed Sakura. "and besides, there are only two bells and three of us."

Kakashi graced them with another eye-smile. "Exactly, when I set my alarm clock this test begins, and from then you will have until noon to retrieve a bell."

Kakashi pulled an alarm clock from his ninja-tool pouch, and began winding it up. "I thought your alarm clock was broken." said Menma.

Kakashi scratched his head sheepishly. "I-Uh bought this one on my way back from the onsen."

"Whatever, just start the test." said Sasuke.

"Tsk, tsk. . . Don't be so impatient Sasuke." Kakashi finished winding up his clock and put it on a rock that was nearby. "And begin!"

The three disappeared, taking cover in the forest that surrounded their training grounds. Menma went much further into the forest than his teammates, he knew that he would need time to think without his teammates and examiner distracting him.

* * *

 **(Sasuke)**

Sasuke watched from his hiding place as Kakashi slid his hand in his ninja-tool pouch. He tensed. Kakashi pulled out a orange book and began reading. He wanted to sweat-drop, but Uchiha don't sweat drop so he held himself back.

He waited for what felt like hours and then turned his back to Sasuke and relaxed some more. 'His open.' Sasuke pulled out six kunai, three in each hand, he crossed his arms in front of him, lowered his head and fired.

Every single kunai hit their mark. 'Got him!' until Kakashi popped into smoke, revealing a log that was lodged with kunai. 'What?!'

"That wasn't nice Sasuke."said a voice behind Sasuke, before Sasuke could turn to face the voice he felt himself take a sharp kick to the back, it sent him flying out of the tree, fortunately he managed to roll when he hit the ground.

When he turned around Kakashi stood reading his orange book. "Don't take me lightly!"

Sasuke rushed at Kakashi, he jumped up sending a sharp kick to his face, which Kakashi swatted aside easily with his free hand. Sasuke made himself fall to the floor, and he balanced on his hands and swung his legs around to sweep Kakashi's legs.

Kakashi easily jumped over the attack, only for Sasuke to swing his legs around completely and use his arms to launch himself at Kakashi feet first, taking the man by surprise and moving him back a little.

Sasuke pulled out two kunai and launched them point blank at Kakashi, one was aimed at the man's groin area and the other was launched at his book. Kakashi jumped back, and pulled out a kunai from his holster to deflect the one that was aimed at his book.

"Sasuke that was unforgivable, not only did you try to take away my precious Icha-Icha, but you tried to take away all my pleasure! I'll give you no mercy." said Kakashi, his only visible eye narrowing.

Sasuke shuddered. 'What a weirdo!' then he had to dodge a kick to his face, however Kakashi didn't lash out again, he simply faded from view, almost as if he wasn't there to begin with.

Sasuke turned to his left, then his right, up , then down. He repeated the process once more, and he found him leaning against a tree, reading his thrice damned perverted book.

"Take me seriously dammit!" whispered Sasuke, forming hand seals. "Fire release: fire clone."there was a puff of smoke with a red-orange hue, and a replica of Sasuke stood beside him.

Without a moments hesitation Sasuke ran forward, keeping his eyes on Kakashi, as he neared Kakashi he blurred through hand seals as fast as he could, he landed on the last hand seal as he came within Kakashi's personal space. He was then obscured by a cloud of smoke.

"Ignite!"called a voice.

Suddenly the smoke cleared and Sasuke dispersed into a small burst of flames.

"That's so pedestrian." said a cool voice, it was Kakashi.

Sasuke's eyes widened. "At least try to kill me, or I'll just fail you right now."

Sasuke gnashed his teeth together. "Don't underestimate me!" Sasuke charged at Kakashi in a burst of speed that surprised the jonin, as he reached the jonin he slid to a stop kicking up dirt, then he cartwheeled to the side, his eyes flashing red, a tomoe in his left and two in his right.

Sasuke bent down as he came to a stop, withdrawing a collection of Shuriken and launching them at the jonin, his tomoe spinning around, as soon as he released the Shuriken he launched a salvo of kunai, right after he launched the Shuriken.

Kakashi avoided the Shuriken, then the kunai easily enough. 'His corralling me.'

Sasuke suddenly appeared from the side, sending a round house kick with the outside of his leg, Kakashi crossed his arms over his chest blocking the kick. Sasuke leaned on to the floor with his right hand and sprang back up pushing his foot against Kakashi. The silver haired ninja was sent back from the force, though he managed to get a grip on the the young Uchiha's leg.

'He has unlocked the Sharingan? Impressive.' Sasuke twisted his body around and punched Kakashi. He shifted his arm around catching the blow. Undeterred Sasuke twisted his body once more, bring his only free foot down on Kakashi's head, Sasuke's own head was mere inches a way from the bells at the Jonin's hips. They jingled tauntingly at him.

Sasuke growled, grasping at the bells at the Jonin's hips, as his hand neared the bells Kakashi pushed him away and leaned back. Sasuke somersaulted through the air, landing like a cat.

'He is good, much better than I expected.' thought Kakashi. 'He has even activated his Sharingan.'

"You have definitely impressed me." remarked Kakashi in a complimentary tone.

"Tch, as if I care." Sasuke blurred through hand seals.

"But that Jutsu? How does he even have the chakra for that!" exclaimed Kakashi. "Fire release: Grand fireball Jutsu."

Sasuke's chest swelled greatly, then he released a bout of great flames from his mouth, in the form of a fireball that exceeded twenty square metres. He didn't relent, scorching the earth black, ensuring that he gave Kakashi some sort of injury. 'there that ought to do it.'

When the flames finally died down, there was no sight of the jonin. "Where is he?"Sasuke scanned the field his Sharingan spinning wildly. "in front?" Sasuke scanned the area in front. "no." Sasuke then looked behind him and left and right. "Not to the side nor behind." Sasuke surveyed the air, and the trees his eyes flashing dangerously. "Not in the air either."

"You forgot the ground or rather underground." said a voice, just before Sasuke felt a tight grip around his ankle. "Doton: Shinjuu Zanshu no Jutsu." Sasuke was suddenly pulled underground by Kakashi, his head the only thing visible. Kakashi towered over the boy. "Shinobi fighting lesson number three, Ninjutsu."

"Water release: water trumpet Jutsu!" exclaimed a voice far off, and then suddenly Kakashi had to jump backwards to avoid a great torrent of water from impacting him.

* * *

 **(Menma - a few moments earlier)**

Menma was broken from his musings by the sound of great explosion. When Menma turned turned to the direction of the noise he noticed smoke in the distance, so he moved moved to the direction of the smoke. He avoided a number of roots and branches that obstructed his path, but he got to the edge of clearing before too long.

he could make out two figures, the first figure was obviously Sasuke, and the other soon emerged from the ground as he pulled Sasuke underground, leaving only his head above ground.

Menma wasted no time with the opportunity that presented itself to him. He blurred through hand seals. "water release: water trumpet Jutsu." he released a great gush of water from his mouth, aiming for Kakashi, he angered it a little high so that it wouldn't hit Sasuke.

Menma knew that Kakashi would avoid the attack so right after the Jutsu ceased, he formed a cross-hand seal and said "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." there was a plume of smoke, and three clones surrounded the Namikaze heir. He sent two clones around the clearing, and had one remain in the trees as he approached Sasuke.

'He is powerful no doubt, to defeat Sasuke like he did is no easy feat. Even for a jonin he avoided by attack so casually. I know how to defeat him though, I hope Sasuke is agreeable.' Menma thought as he made his way over to Sasuke.

"Before I dig you out, I have a few terms."said Menma.

"What?"asked Sasuke.

"We team up with Sakura to beat Kakashi." said Menma. "Don't give me that face, you know that we are the best genin in our age group. But I'm willing to bet so was Kakashi. He is just too strong. Plus I am the Hokage's son, if I didn't know how Konoha worked it would be a serious affront to both him and myself - I'm going to Hokage after all. Anyway Konoha genin squads are formed with three genin and a jonin-sensei. Most squads are formed with either four or three members. So either we all fail or we all pass, there is no middle ground." said Menma.

"Fine." said Sasuke after a while. "We'll team up, just don't get in my way."

"I should be telling you that." Menma smirked.

"Whatever just get me out of the ground."grouched Sasuke.

Menma dug out Sasuke to the waist then he pulled him out. "Lets go find Sakura."

"Kyaaa!"exclaimed a high pitched voice in the distance.

"Looks like we found her."said Menma.

"Hn."

* * *

 **(Sakura - a few moments earlier)**

Sakura could of sworn that she saw smoke, and she knew that the only one awesome enough to make so much smoke was Sasuke. Because where there is smoke there is fire and he is and Uchiha what other element would he use?

Where could he be? He had to be nearby. Sakura continued on, until she noticed Kakashi, calmly reading his perverted book. She swiftly dived into a bush, and took a small peak. He continued reading as if nothing had happened. 'Thank Kami, he didn't notice me.'

"Sakura behind you." it was Kakashi's voice, yet that was impossible, he was just in front of her. When she turned around, all she saw was Kakashi leaning towards her with his ever-present eye-smile.

"Kyaa!" exclaimed Sakura.

Kakashi quickly went through hand seals. 'Demonic illusion: hell viewing technique.'

Sakura took notice of leaves that began to surround her, obscuring her view of her sensei, then it began to twirl around her like a vortex, she couldn't tell how long it swirled for, but when it finally stopped she forgot about all of that.

Kakashi was nowhere to be seen. "where did sensei go? What was the point of all those leaves?"

Then she heard it, it was faint at first but it steadily got louder. "Sa. . .kura."

'that voice.' she immediately brightened. "Sasuke-kun!"

Then she saw Sasuke come into view, he was stumbling around, his back hunched over, kunai and Shuriken littering his body and limbs, crimson blood trailing from each wound. "Sakura. . .help me."

'Sasuke.' Sakura became fearful, sweat dripping from her face, tears gathering in her eyes. "Ahhhhhh!" she screamed, and passed out from the shock. Foam forming on her lips.

* * *

 **(Menma - Sasuke)**

"What the hell, why is she saying your name like that, and why is she looking there any way? Is she squint?"asked Menma.

"She's in a Genjutsu idiot."replied Sasuke.

"Oh-uh I knew that." said Menma nervously.

"Ahhhh!"screamed Sakura.

"Man, you gave her an orgasm by pure proximity."remarked Menma, as he waggled his eyebrows.

Sasuke looked away while blushing, he was both embarrassed by the comment and oddly proud. "Hmff how pathetic, to fall for a Genjutsu so easily."

And indeed she was a pathetic sight, foam running down the side of her lips, and dripping down her chin. "Yeah, she truly is a pathetic kunoichi. She's focussed on her academics and she even fell for a academic ninja art, one of the most academic there is, I almost want to fail if she is going to be on my team."

"What do you mean, I know she is weak but that's a bit much."remarked Sasuke.

"Its because she used the fact that she is academically inclined to free-ride through the academy, if there is one thing I hate, and that is lazy people. There is only one person in the whole class that I truly respect and admire, and that's Naruto." said Menma. "Do you remember his first fight?" asked Menma.

"Yeah Kiba made him look like a loser." smirked Sasuke.

"And now his Shurikenjutsu is as high as yours, and his Taijutsu is almost on par with our own. I haven't seen his Ninjutsu, but he passed on the high end of class. He went from pathetic to as good as us, children from two prominent clans, and me? I'm the son of the Hokage, he trains me, and Naruto - the clanless orphan - is catching up to us." said Menma, his tone coloured with reverence.

"Tch, he will always be a loser." said Sasuke in annoyance. "lets wake her up already."

Menma sighed, he may be arrogant and derisive to weak people, but he never feared anyone becoming stronger than himself, in fact he welcomed it, it would only mean that he would have to step up his game and become stronger, but Sasuke, he relished in his strength, he didn't like anyone being more powerful than himself, and he absolutely detested anyone who was once weak, becoming stronger than him.

They shook Sakura awake, it took some doing but she finally stirred. Her eyes flutter open, and then widened. "Sasuke-kun!" she flung her arms around his neck, when he tried to push her off, he discovered that she had a strong grip. So he did the logical thing. Kawarimi no Jutsu. Soon Menma took his place. 'Ah sweet victory.'

Menma on the other hand had other ideas. "Get off me!"

"Sasuke-kun please. ."she begged.

"I'm not your damn duck-butt boyfriend."said Menma angrily.

"Wh-What? Menma-baka? What did you say about Sasuke-kun? I'll kill you!" she released one hand from around his neck, Menma quickly went through hand seals. 'Two can play at that game!' he disappeared in a puff of smoke, when Sakura made contact.

There was a hiss of pain, but it wasn't Menma's, it was Sasuke's, who now sported a shiner over his eye. "Aww, no Sasuke-kun I didn't mean to."

Sasuke shrugged her off. "Whatever its not like it hurt."

"Menma-baka what did you do! You should of taken your punishment like a man!"she exclaimed.

"And who are you to give me punishment? Just because I hurt your precious Sasuke-kun's feelings? As if I would listen to a stalker like you."replied Menma.

"I'm not a stalker!"

"Then why do you follow him around, follow him home, follow him to the onsen." said Menma, Sasuke blanched as did Sakura. "Face it, you're a stalker."

"I'm not damn it!"she screamed. "I just admire him from afar."

"Yeah and Ero-Sennin likes the colour of the towels on the female side of the onsen" said Menma dryly.

"Are you all going to sit here arguing or are you going to at least try and get these bells?" said Kakashi, making a sudden appearance.

Suddenly Sakura made hand seals. "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!"

"What that's impossible!" exclaimed Kakashi as he hastily jumped back to avoid the massive orb of flames.

Except he seemingly didn't notice Menma releasing a great blast of water from his side, he managed to twist in the air at the last second, only just avoiding the blast of water. "That was close you two but -"

Kakashi suddenly felt something brush against his hip, when he looked down he saw a head of yellow with red streaks rush past him, a gentle jingle was heard while he moved, getting a little fainter, his hip was clear of any bells.

'Both of those Jutsu were feints, he used them to angle me in such a way that I wouldn't be able to avoid or stop it, I wouldn't even expect it. I mean who expects a genin to know any solid clone Jutsu?let alone the Kage Bunshin.'

"Looks like we pass sensei." said Menma cheekily.

Kakashi sighed, how could he let this happen? He was beaten by two genin, and how the hell did Sakura use that grand fireball Jutsu? "Actually I said whomever gets a bell passes, so you can give one of the bells to Sakura or Sasuke, or you can keep both. The choice is yours."

Menma stared at him unblinkingly. "I choose option three."

"Oh, and what is option three pray tell." said Kakashi, then his lone eye widened, Sakura was covered in a veil of smoke and Sasuke took her place. Not too long after that Sakura appeared walking sluggishly from the forest.

"Sa-Sasuke-kun you're alright!" exclaimed Sakura in relief.

"Huh? So Sasuke replaced himself with Sakura and used henge no Jutsu when she passed out, then Menma created a Kage Bunshin which transformed into Sasuke. Then you had that whole argument to distract me and get me to lower my guard." remarked Kakashi, sounding impressed.

"More or less."said Menma, 'we waited a little after she passed out, I wasn't going to admit to Kakashi that I didn't know that she was under a Genjutsu.'

"And now the bells, who gets one?" asked Kakashi.

Menma looked at Sasuke then Sakura. "Here Sakura catch."

She was started, yet she managed to catch the bell. His action certainly caught Kakashi by surprise, if the widening of his eye was any indication.

"Sasuke catch!"exclaimed Menma, throwing a bell to him, even Sasuke was caught by surprise with that action, obviously Sasuke wasn't part of this stage of plan. Then again Menma was likely improvising during this stage of the exam.

"So you're willing to fail and allow your teammates to pass?"asked Kakashi, deadly serious.

"Yes." said Menma then he thought, 'I know what the secret to this exam is.' "Though we both know that if I fail, so do they and even if I do fail and they pass, I'll just be transferred to a team who needs a replacement, the Konoha police force or the reserves."then Menma added, in a sarcastic tone. "But thanks for your concern."

"Then. . .my choice is clear." said Kakashi, in a serious, but solemn tone. "You pass." Kakashi added with an upturn of his eye.

Menma grinned, already predicting Kakashi's response. His two teammates on the other hand were surprised. "What?!"

"You guys are the first to pass this exam." said Kakashi,

"What?"asked Sakura.

"You three are the first team I have passed. All the others simply tried to work alone, failed to sea underneath the underneath and they took everything at face value, and above all failed to sacrifice themselves for their teammates." said Kakashi, oddly serious. "It is true that those that break the laws and the codes of the ninja world are trash, but you what? Those who do not take care of their comrades are worse than trash."

Sakura gave him a look of awe.

Sasuke grunted, yet there was a look, he seemed thoughtful.

Menma grinned. "That's a philosophy I can get behind. In fact I think it should be the philosophy of team seven."

"Yeah!"exclaimed Sakura. "Team seven will always take care of one another!"

Kakashi watched his team with pride before he came to a decision. "Come on team, I need to show you all something."

They followed Kakashi, appearing near the area where they started the test. "This is the memorial stone, all those who are considered heroes of this village their names are carved here. Though they're not normal heroes, no they gave their life for this village, for their comrades and in the name of duty. This is what you face as a shinobi of Konoha, to sacrifice yourself for your village, if you cannot do that, then you should just quit right now."

Menma only paused a moment. "For Konoha, for team seven, for my family and for the respect of the title Hokage, I'll give my life for Konoha - even if I have to protect the lazy, even if I have to protect the weak, because as a future Hokage if I cannot sacrifice, even for the sake of those that disgust me. . .I'll never be able to make my father proud."

"H-Hai for Konoha." said Sakura, shakily. 'for Sasuke-kun mom, dad. . .and even you Ino-bunta'

"Hn. . .I'll protect Konoha, I'll protect her with my life. I'll never let _that_ happen again, I am an Uchiha and even if it means our end, I would never be able to wear my clans symbol with pride if I didn't serve Konoha until my last breath." said Sasuke, his eyes flashing red, his left eye shifting a little to the left and another black tomoe took form in his left eye.

Sakura gave him a look of pure adoration. 'Sasuke's so cool!'

Menma gave him a nod of appreciation.

Kakashi beamed. 'His conviction must be strong, if attaining a new tomoe is anything to go by. Then again emotions are very powerful, my own eye is evidence of that fact, since that day. . .'

"Well this calls for a celebration!"exclaimed Menma. "And ramen will be served!"

"Yeah, my treat."eye-smiled Kakashi.

"sweet free ramen that's even better!"exclaimed Menma.

"How can you be such a cheapskate when your father is the Hokage? its not like you're hurting for cash."asked Sasuke in annoyance.

"Because I'm not paying for it, duh!"said Menma. "Now lets get some sweet, sweet ramen!"

* * *

 **(Konoha hospital - Naruto)**

"So what are you in for?"asked a voice, it was one Naruto recognised.

Naruto looked down at his arm, his shoulder and upper arms was wrapped in a bandage, and so was his stomach. 'A waste if you ask me.' he sighed internally. "Shikamaru? Is that you?"

"Yes, as troublesome as it is I have to rest in this place, this place really makes naps feel wrong. I'm here for chakra exhaustion, what about you?"

"My teammate cut my shoulder and my stomach."said Naruto. "Though its already healed - they used medical-Ninjutsu - all these bandages are such a waste."said Naruto.

"Great, then if you're alright do you want to play a game of Shoji?"asked Shikamaru.

Naruto sighed, then he relented. "Sure, its much more productive than waiting here for these medical-ninja and doctors to realise that I'm completely healed."

Naruto easily got up, showing indeed that he was completely alright. He pulled back Shikamaru's hospital curtain. Shikamaru shifted backwards against the headboard, albeit sluggishly. He crossed his legs. "My board and its pieces are in this scroll. Cant release the storage seal, if I do, I may have to stay here longer. So troublesome."

Naruto took the scroll from him.

"Hi I'm Sai, I have a concussion. Can I play too?"said a voice.

Naruto looked over at Sai, the pale boys patented fake-smile on display.

"Who?"asked Shikamaru, rather disturbed by the boys fake-smile. 'he has no emotion.'

"My teammate, ignore him."said Naruto as he unsealed the Shoji pieces. "He had a concussion, its been healed. Now lets play."

* * *

 **A/N - so this exceeds all my other chapters in length by quite a bit. The rest of my chapters may not be as long as this one, though if I get enough requests I may make my chapters longer. Though its up to my readers, if they prefer longer or average chapter length. I would like to thank all of those that followed and favourited this story. Truly the amount of follows I have truly moves me, now yes like most authors I would love more reviews, because the more reviews I get, the more readers I'm likely to get. However, follows. . .that's where the gold is for me. Why? Because that tells me that you want to read this story, it tells me that every time I update my story you all want to be notified so that you can read the newest chapter, and really what else could I ask for but an audience who wants to ready my work.**

 **Reviews**

 **Alpha scribe - I'm not confirming or denying the identity of the Anbu, and yes things are picking up, I hope that this series of fights was enough action. And the arcs, well we shall see.**

 **Lord Kabuto-sama - well I needed to give Naruto a tutor, though the shinobi at large wouldn't have a very negative opinion of Naruto because their hero of the third war and their Hokage still lives, so there isn't much to blame on Naruto, besides those who blame him for the deaths caused by the Kyuubi, additionally Naruto doesn't prank so he doesn't have the 'delinquent' reputation.**

 **Naruita 14 - thanks.**

 **Lara5170 - so a bit of spoiler, all of your questions should be explained around the chunin exam and I don't see Minato as an ass, he is a practical man, yes sometimes he sees the needs of the many over the needs of the few, but he has good intentions.**

 **Ezeakel - yes I needed to kill he rabbit, it was actually an idea that I had a while ago. My dog had come close to death. . .he survived but I thought about it and I thought. . .well they're ninja, they should have a humane way to prepare for their first kill, and then it hit me. Danzo, he may be ruthless but he isn't wrong. Ninja are not ethical, they kill plain and simple, I aim to make this story at least semi-realistic, so there will be deaths, though too many character deaths are unlikely. Not enough characters for that, this isn't game of thrones. If not for that I would of written a Uzushiogakure-centric story long ago, unfortunately it would have way too many ocs. All your other questions will be answered as the story progresses.**

 **Phantomsoul2015 - I understand your concerns, however I'm fleshing out his character, so he still has room to grow.**

 **AN: Sorry if this chapter took a while, but I've bee having internet problems.**


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